posted 12-01-2005 11:50 AM            

quote:

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IT IS A FACT that, for ages, the very first gift which a boy or girl received, consisted of one or more spoons these being the established presents by sponsors at christening. The spoons given were called "Apostle Spoons”, because the handle of each was carved into the figure of an apostle with his appropriate emblem.

This practice was in imitation of the heathen, who introduced figures of their gods upon almost, every utensil. The idea as adopted in the middle ages was excellent. A child no sooner learned to feed himself—to use his own spoon — than he began to acquire a knowledge of scriptural and ecclesiastical biography. Every spoonful of food he received conveyed, or might convey a useful lesson to his mind. This shows the influence of religion on the arts in mediaeval times — how ingeniously ecclesiastical matters were interwoven with almost everything; — how even a spoon was made to infuse religious truths into the minds of children while it conveyed pap to their mouths.

In old writings allusions to Apostle spoons are common. In the play of “Henry VIII” (act 5; scene 2), Shakespear makes the King say to Cranmer that he must stand god-father to the young princess, Elizabeth, The Archbishop expresses his unfitness for so great an honor, upon which Henry, bantering him, says he is afraid of the expense of the usual gift to a god-child:

“Come, come, my lord, you’d spare your spoons.”

Mr. Hone in his Every Day Book (vol. I; p. 176) writes:

S. Paul’s day being the first festival of an apostle in the year, it is an opportunity for alluding to the old, English custom, with sponors, or visitors at christenings, of presenting spoons, called apostle spoons.

Persons who could afford it gave the set of twelve; others a smaller number, and a poor person offered the gift of one, with the figure of the saint after whom the child was named or to whom the child was dedicated, or who was the patron saint of the good natured donor.

Old spoons are still to be found, and they are of considerable value from their antiquity and comparative rarity. Only one complete set (13) is know — that in the possession of Goldsmiths’ Company, London. This set was made in 1626. Its great value is owing to the presence of the rare "Master" spoon and to the fact of the whole having been made by one maker at the same time. Fraudulent imitations of old spoons are made in Germany and Holland which find their in large quantities to the English and American markets.

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posted 12-03-2005 08:14 PM            

Given the decoration along the handle stem, somewhat reminiscent of Gorham's Cluny or Medici, I had always thought it might be a design of F. Antoine Heller.

Added a few minutes later: