The Northwestern states of Oregon and Washington annually receive a tremendous amount of rain. It has become a joke that residents grow webs between their toes (like a frog). From this the idea of Webfoot developed. In spoon collecting we have a few different variations of Webfoot.
Front and back views of the Mechanics version of the full size tea spoon
This is the most popular and prized Webfoot spoon
This is the smaller demi size version of Webfoot by the same company. It differs from the larger version in only minor ways. Because it uses less silver it could be sold cheaper and thus we find more of the smaller size. The reverse is also very similar to the larger version.
We typically find the Mt. Hood volcanic mountain (Portland, Oregon) engraved in the bowls of these full figural webfoot spoons.
Various versions of Webfoot are also found hand engraved in spoon bowls. The stems range the gamut of souvenir spoons from this area. Both tea and demi size versions are available.
Two more engraved views of Webfoot. On the left he is "dancing in the rain" and on the right he is sitting on a "toadstool"
a different engraved version of webfoot sitting on a toadstool
Demi spoon featuring Webfoot under an umbrella and smoking a cigarette. Haven't seen cigarette smoking on a spoon before this (have seen pipe smoking). The bowl is engraved "Mc Minnville, Ore"
A Satire
According to Dorothy Rainwater, "The Umbrella Man, Robert W. Patten, was a picturesque Seattle character whose odd headgear inspired "Kok" Hager, cartoonist for the Seattle Times. Hager added the small flag with the one word weather forecast creating a feature that ran in the paper for many years." Manufactured by J. Mayer, Seattle, pat. Nov. 26, 1912.
Note the little dog with a cap at his feet. The spoon stem also contains a thermometer and the bowl on this one has an engraved view of Mt. Rainier.
This "webfoot" spoon is labeled Toledo, Ohio. I didn't know that they also used the webfoot symbol so I was surprised to find this spoon, but I have now been informed that Toledo was sometimes called "frogtown". The handle also contains a sword and the bowl is an engraved picture of the Toledo library. Most spoons contain a lot of symbols, and discovering the meaning is part of the fun of spooning.