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(I) THE MA~TER , WITH ORB AND CROSS; (2) ST. MATTHEW, WITH ~!oKEY-Il.IG · ; (3) ST. JA~lES . THE LESSER, WITH FULLER'S POLE; (4) ST. JAMES THE GREATER, WITH PILGRIM'S STAFF; . (5) ST. ANDREW, WITH SALTlRE CROSS; (6) ST. JOHN, WITH CUP AND P.ILM-BRAKCH; (7) ST. BARTHOLOMEW, WITH FLETCHER' S KNIFE

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(8) ST. PETER, wriH KEY; (9) ST. IVIATTHItIS, WITH AXE; (ID) ST. THOMAS, WITH SPEAR; (rr) ST. SmON, WITH SAW; (12) ST. PHIUP, WITIl LONG

STAFF SURMOUNTED BY CROSS; (13) ST. JUDE, WITH HALBERD . '. FIGS. I AND 2. KNOPS OF FAMOUS ABBEY SET. DATED 1536-37 . .. , .-- APOSTLE ' SPOONS By NORMAN GASK

HE solitary silver Apostle spoon weighing nies. An Apostle wrought by this maker in T little more than two ounces which changed . I490 is shown in fig. 3. hands not long ago for ' £215-the record price . A pair of Apostles made by th'is craftsman, ever paid for a single Apostle-emphasises anew also in 1490, when put up to auction in 1910, the hold which this variety of early silver spoon achieved another record, when, owing to stub­ exercises over the collector of old English silver. born competition between two rival bidders, the The specimen in question bore the London price of the pair rose to no less than £1,050 befote marks for 1490-1, with, for maker's mark, the the hammer fell. One of the pair was the Lombardic Capital Letter" L." The unknown Master and the other either St. Matthew or St. late fifteenth-century silversmith who used this Philip. They had cost their owner, by the way, curiou's mark would, I imagi ne, be transfixed only £150. with astonishment could he return to earth and Small fortunes have indeed been made by see the almost fantastic appreciation in prices some of the possessors of this variety of spoon: realised by his pieces in the early twentieth cen­ eleven Apostles of 1519-20, bearing the famous tury. The spoon mentioned must have been fringed "S" as maker's mark, were bought at originally sold for approxirr,ately 80 silver pen- the Bernal sale in 1855 for 62 guineas and sold

135 f ---~,--~- -,~ -:--- ...... , .. _, -~.'- -:- -...... - -_ ... ~ --'~"-' -;_.-

APOSTLE SPOONS

(figs. I and 2), with the respective Apostles iden­ tifled in accordance with the latest findings of Mr. Charles G. Rupert, who has devoted con­ siderable research to the subject of Apostle spoons and who is of opinion that the abbreviated names, which can be seen on the pedestals in the illustrations, were engraved at some subsequent period and are, in several instances, inaccurate. The Apostle shares with the Seal-Top variety, the distinction of being the most ,popular spoon of the Tudor and early Stuart periods and is the ancient spoon most eagerly sought after by ' col , lectors to-day. ' Frequent references to Apostles are found in the literature of the sixteenth and early seven­ teenth centuries. Ben Jonson, in his "Bar­ tholomew Fair" makes one of his charac ters say: - "All this for the hope of two Apostle , spoons and a cup to eat caudle in." Beaumont and Fletcher's "Noble Gentleman" I' also contains the lines:- " I'll be a gossip, Bewford I have an odd Apostle-spoon." A complete set of thirteen was the favourite christening gift among the wealthy in ancient times. .In Shakespeare's" King Henry VIII," act V, scene 3, Cranmer, who declares ,his un­ worthiness to act as godfather to a " fair yo\}ng FIG. 3. ST. ANDREW FIG. , 4: AHENRyVTII maid that yet wants baptism " is' met by the re­ DATE,I490-9I:MAKER'S MASTER SPOON buke from the King, "Come, come, My Lord, :MARK" L J1 DATE, 1514-15 (8-/ courtesy of NIr, Lionel Crichton) you'd spare your spoons." Persons of smaller means contented them- by one of the purchaser's descendants not very . selves with giving four spoons, representing the long ago for approximately £2,000. four Evangelists, two or, in many cases, a single Two Apostles, the Master and St. Peter, were one representing the Apostle after whom the included in the famous Elizabethan "Celebrities" child was to be named, or possibly the patron set of twelve spoons date 1592-93. This set, the saint of the donor. . ' property of Sir Joseph Tichborne, Bart., and The jealous preservation of these spoons by known as the Tichborne family series, was sold the parents of the recipient and later by the re­ in 1858 for £430. The same set when put up cipient, now'grown to man's or woman's estate, to auction at Christie's' in June, 1914, brought the social distinction which the possession of even £2,000. ' one spoon conferred and the bequest and men­ The earliest and finest complete set known to tion in '';'ills and inventories of these spoons, be in existence, the massive Abbey set of which were handed down from one generation thirteen, all dated 1536-37, each spoon 7y,; -ins. to another, and last, but not least, th'e artistic long, with a sheaf of arrows as the maker's mark, charm, dignity and character of the knops, are when sold at Christie's in 1903, realised no less responsible for the comparatively large number than £4,900 the highest price ever recorded for that have survived. a set of Apostle spoons. Their melting-pot A "giant" example of one of these "heirloom" value, I may add, is less than £5. Apostles in my possession-a St. Peter-is shown By the owner's permission I am able to give in the illustrations (fig. 7). This specimen which a drawing of all the knops of this wonderful set is 7y,; inches long-the same length as the

136 :: . . ';"'1 " I " , • !~" , •• ,. .. ~ ' .. ' '.~ I ',., r,' .' • " . ' '.... I." •• , ..... '" I , " •. ' , ",/ , •

APOSTLE SPOONS

Abbey Apostles-was made in the West of England about 1640 and formerly belonged to a Devonshire family which had it recorded in an old inventory of plate at least as far back as the eighteenth century. It bears beautifully pricked or pounced on the back of the bowl the date " 1672" with the initials "W.F.: E.G." and pounced on the back of the stem the initials " E.G. : c.P." and the date" 1721." It is interesting to note in the example shown the widening of the neck of the bowl and the flattening of the hexagonal handle, both of which foreshadowed the abolition about this time, of the six-sided stem and the fig- or pear-shaped bowl. These, after two and a half centuries of popular favour, disappeared soon afterwards, never to return. Both Master and Apostle spoons are recorded in Henry VIII's Jewel-Book which is in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of London as the following characteristic entries show:- "Item eight Spones white (ungilt) with th-appostells at the endes gilt weing . XIII oz. ' " , " Item foure gilt spones of severall sortes thone , with Christ at thende another wt one of the Apostelles at thende. . . . ." Spoons, I may mention, were a favourite New Year's gift to Benry VIII by certain of his nobles. FIG. s. ST. MATTHIAS, FIG. 6. ST. JOHN, WITH A spoon "with Christ at then de "-in other WITH AN AXE. JACOBEAN AN EAGLE. JACOBEAN words, a Master spoon-such as that just des­ DATE, 1606-7 , DATE, 16IO- Il cribed----':"made during Henry's reign, is also (In tlte Vic/o'ria and shown in the illustrations (fig. 4). The present-' Albert MuseHI7l) day value of one of these rare and much-sought­ to be made well into Commonwealth times. after specimens would be 'anything from [lOO Examples as late as the reign of William and 'to £200, depending on size, date, the condition Mary, and even Georgian specimens are some­ of bowl, stem image, emblems and nimbus, the times encountered, but neither of these belated clarity of the marks-particularly the, maker's examples is taken seriously by collectors. mark and date-letter but above all the date-letter It is scarcely necessary to mention that Apostle -the craftsmanship and other factors. spoons were so named because each is sur­ Two finely-modelled Jacobean examples, one, mounted by a little silver-gilt figure of one of the St. John with an Eagle, in the National the Apostles bearing one or other of his cus­ Collection at South Kensington; are also shown tomary emblems. All ancient Apostle spoons (figs. 5 and 6). are, with few exceptions, more or less, of modern Apostle spoons originated on the Continent dessert-spoon size. and were introduced into England, it is believed, A complete set numbers thirteen spoons- about the year 1450, although no record of them . twelve Apostle spoons and a Master spoon in wills or inventories has yet been discovered bearing the image of the Saviour. St. Paul­ earlier than the year I494 when" XIIj (I3) coch­ with a sword-occasionally replaces one of the liaria argenti cum Apostolis super eorum fines" twelve. Every spoon must be of exactly the are found to have been bequeathed in a will in same size and made by the same maker in the the York Registry. Apostle spoons continued , same year. A maker sometimes wrought three

137 APOSTLE SPOONS

distinct sizes. Camplete sets af English Apastle . spaans are af great rarity:. Only five ar six af these sets are knawn to. be in existence. One af them, the Swettenham Hall set af 1617; which has far maker's mark a crescent enclasing mullet, belangs to. Mr. J. Pierpant Margan. This set was said in 190.1 far £1,0.60., the Sulhamstead set af twelve, which was also. made in 1617, selling in 1910 far £1,220.. The purchaser has since campleted the set. Lard Swaythling is the awner af an unusually · handsame and histaric callectian af twelve Apastles. Six af these were made in 1524 and have, far maker's mark, a heart. Six were made in 1553-the rare and brief Mary Tudor periad-with a crescent enclosing mullet as the maker's mark . . They were presented by Ki9-g Charles II to. Martha, \vife afSir Rabert Clay tan, . Lard Mayar af Landan, whase managram, M.C., is engraved in the bowls. Carpus Christi . Callege, Cambridge, - awns an incamplete Elizabethan set af twelve. The prices af early Apastles are naw increasing · by leaps and baunds. . A Henry VIII Apostle, which two. ar three years ago. could be acquired far abaut £50. naw frequently costs twice this sum. Gaad Landan-made examples af the time af Charles I; James I ar even af Elizabeth, haw­ ever, may still be abtained far abaut £25 apiece, althaugh several times that sum, af caurse, may FIG. '7. ST. PETER, WITH A KEY. DATE, c. 1640; . . FIG. 8. LATTEN OR BRASS EXAiIPLE, ST. MATTHEW be asked far ane af the rare Master spaans af DATE, c. 1650 . the periad. Same callectars spend a lifetime acquiring Apastles ane by ane with a view to. gleams like aid gald, is shawn here (fig. 8). It making a full set but few have lived to. achieve bears punched in the bawl in capital letters the their ambitian. wards "WITED DaUBLE" set in a circle and Curiausly enaugh amang the rarest af all _· surrounding the· maker's mark, a heart pierced Apastles are thase made either af pewter ar latten by arrow. . (brass) nane af which incidentally, bare a halo.. The wards "wited dauble" (dauble-whited) These base-metal spaans were made in the six­ mean that it was caated ariginally by a dauble teenth and seventeenth centuries · far the paar " plating" af tin-prabably to. imitate silver. who could nat affard even a single small piece The trifling ariginal cost af these base-metal af silver but wanted samething better than waad Apastles-cansiderably less than 1d.-Ied their or ham. .: ~ awners to. cansider them unwarthy af preserva­ A gaad latten example, a St. Matthew af the tian and contributed to. their virtual extinctian 1650. periad, which is in my passessian and ta-day.

138

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