Who can help me identify this very curious object?????

[tpdaw]

This item is 19,5 cm long. Red copper mouthpiece on one end, yellow copper spoon with holes on the other end. The whole thing is hollow and the middle part is decorated with what could be gold decorations. (Gold as it has not been oxydised).

http://picasaweb.google.nl/tpdawsen/CuriousSpoonlikePipelikeObject

[up2no6ood]

Its a bombilla! Used for drinking Mate tea, a drink thats popular in south america. The tea is made up of crushed leaves and hot water. The straw has a strainer to filter out all the leaf pieces when you drink it. Where did you find this thing?

[Julekpl]

It's a 1600's golf club.
Just kidding, yeah it is a mate stir spoon. Mate is made in Argentina, I had a project about this at school, but I can't tell if this is an old mate stir, or recent.

[tpdaw]

Hi, I found this in box of assorted silver (some) and mostly non-silver cutlary and serving spoons etc.  that I bought at a general auction in Holland. Most of the stuff was pretty old. I paid very little for the whole box.

I am astonished..... From the quality of the item, the place where I found it I think it may be pretty old. Any suggestions?

[KC]

Unless it is marked sterling or has etchings that indicate it is real gold - it isn't.

It is a bombilla like someone previously posted.

I learned about these when I was in Brazil many years ago - to drink Yerba Mate (a tea that tastes like - as one person said " I've heard many colorful turns of phrase used to describe this unique flavor, but the one I liked best was "a combination of lightly smoked wood, weak coffee and flavored hay." A mix of "green teaand coffee, with hints of tobacco and oak," was another favorite.").

Many times is marked alpacca silver which isn't sterling/silver as you are thinking.  They are made with many different metals for decorative purposes.  Typically with a gourd if used in the true sense.