Spoon!

No, I'm not talking about the Tick's catchphrase, rather about a collection of spoons I inherited from my mother. She died 8 years ago today (kind of ruins April Fools for me so I use March 31st as her passing since it was in the wee hours), and I thought I'd show off her spoons.

This is her display case. I really need something similar to show off my Pez dispensers.

 All the spoons were fairly tarnished so I borrowed an idea from the net and bought some Baking Soda and Aluminum Foil and got to work. (Click the link to figure out why.)

Before:

The tools:

Cleansing in progress:

Since few pieces were actual silverware, there wasn't as much bubbling as I'd like but they turned out okay.

These three are specific to me! The fork with the missing tine and spoon on the right both have the initials MTJ engraved. The tiny one on the left has my birth, date and time. (Click to embiggen, you might be able to read it yourself.) At the top is "BIRTH RECORD OF MTJ", on the right is DEC 25, on the left is 58, and the time is barely discernible at the bottom and I think it reads AM 7:35. I don't really recall the time at the time.

She either purchased a spoon while we were on vacation or friends would give them to her as gifts. I cannot tell which are which.

I'm pretty sure she got this one herself at Wells Cathedral in Somerset, England. I can find the spoon online, but I can't figure out the symbol upon it. You can buy your own here.

It is an impressive cathedral, I must say.

Some spoons from the USA follow. I'm fairly certain the San Francisco, Kentucky and Texas spoons were gifts.

It is possible that she got the New York and Pennsylvania ones herself. The Liberty Bell is cracked!

I have no idea where this is from. If you have any ideas, weigh in. St. M and A.A??? (I tried St. Martin the country and church to no avail. The A.A is what confuses the search.)
REVISION: It's St. Michael and All Angels!! This just happens to be MY saint and September 29th is All Angels day which is my pseudo-birthday! Now, which St. Mikes? It could be the one in Ottawa or it could one of the two dozen in England. (Thanks to one of my Roving Reporters for solving the mystery.)

We travelled all over Canada from Coast to Coast when I was a kid. The one on the left is from Brandon, Winnipeg but I have no idea which Province the other is from. Probably the Maritimes.

A couple from Quebec. Montreal and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

A few from Ontario including Whitby, Ottawa and Old Fort Henry. The Mountie needs to be glued to its perch.

And a few from Alberta. Camrose has two and I don't know where the "Rose" hales from.

Two more from Alberta, Waterton Lakes and Banff.

These last two were definitely gifts and fairly recent. Merry Xmas.

Finally a generic spoon from Canada. NO idea where it came from.

What follows is cutlery from my personal collection. If there's room, I'll put them on the plaque.

SPOOOOON!!

Oops, I almost forgot my personal favourite from my childhood. I'm pissed off that my younger brother scammed Yogi Bear, at least I have Huckleberry Hound!

As soon as I can figure out where to hang it I'll mount the collection...