'When tired of Cycling, try Spooning!'
As you may have guessed 'spooning' had a different and more innocent meaning back in the veteran era when it referred to flirtatious behaviour. All the same this probably would have been considered a risqué postcard back in the day. Apparently the phrase spooning has its roots in seventeenth century Wales where a young man would present an intricately carved wooden love spoon to the object of his affections. The spoon signalled his intent to both his amor and her family that he was a skilled man able to provide.
Of course of equal, or perhaps more, interest to us moto nerds is the bike. It's a very unusual v-twin Premier from roughly 1909. There's one in the Yesterday's archive of sold machines to compare:
https://www.yesterdays.nl/product/premier-1909-model-2-600cc-2-cyl-sv/
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| Premier gent spooning with two young ladies, what a cad! |
This is a wonderful photo, when viewed close up (right click on it and choose Open image in new tab). The fellow has his hand very suggestively on the forearm of the girl at left. The girl perched on the fence has an expression of shock and horror as she views this effrontery, although the girl on the left does seem to be enjoying it. The precarious perch of the girl on the fence is not so bad because she has one foot on the saddle of the bike and the other on the rear rack, providing a steading effect.
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