This spoon

[Yakov]

I got this spoon off ebay for 5 USD. I know it fits the profile of the usual soviet spoon. Also, I've read that they sharpened the edges to better get into the corners of ration cans. It looks crusty and old, and I don't play on eating with it. What do you guys think? Is it legitimate? Also, if I'm not mistaken by the bend in the neck, the guy may have been left-handed.

Here's a pic and a pic of it with a modern-repro spoon from Ostfront:



Here is a better pic of the curved portion that has been altered:



Here is the manufacturer mark on the back, I can see cyrillic, but I can't really make out the words, just the ending rp (gr):

[Yakov]

After messing around with that in an image manipulation program (GIMP 2.6) It looks like the lettering is rather erratic. I think it may be someone's name or something.

[Wagriff]

These spoons aren't always altered to be in that shape-I often see soft metal spoons and forks that are heavily used, being worn down into this same shape as well. William

[Yakov]

Well, I was looking as close as I could at it with my camera and took a few pictures. Sorry they are bad quality, but if you'll notice, at the one point there is actually a raised ridge in the aluminum indicative of rubbing against something like a rock:



You'll notice the thickness is also not the same on both sides:






You can also see the raised flattened edge, here:

[Yakov]

Also, just looking at the overall shape and form of the alterations or naturally made wear, you can see how conducive to eating with a left hand the possible alteration is to that of the right hand:





There's definitely no way to tell either way of what caused the shape alteration, but just taking in the observations, that would be my educated guess at it.

[Adrian Stevenson]

I would agree with all your observations.

Cheers, Ade.

[Yakov]

I would agree with all your observations.

Cheers, Ade.

That's great to hear. I actually used what I learned