A great and well told story. Any of those things, including the spoon, have a special significance when you know they're from a bygone era.
Now for the question I didn't see anyone else ask—if they did, I apologize. Did your parents ever get the silver bowl appraised? While there's definitely sentimental value, I'd hope they'd have a very safe place to keep it.
True. In fact we've even kept the "junk" objects as souvenirs.
No appraisals done but not to worry, it's kept in a suuuper safe place :)
Thanks for dropping by @glenalbrethsen