APOSTLE SPOONS  , a set of spoons, usually of

silver or silver gilt, with the handles terminating in figures of the apostles, each bearing their distinctive emblem . They were common baptismal gifts during the 15th and 16th centuries, but were dying out by 1666 . Often single spoons were given, bearing the figure of the patron or name saint of the child . Sets of the twelve apostles are not common, and complete sets of thirteen, with the figure of our Lord on a larger spoon, are still rarer . The Goldsmiths' Company in London has one such set, all by the same maker and bearing the hall-mark of 1626, and a set of thirteen was sold at Christie's in 1904 for £4900 . See William Hone, The Everyday Book and Table Book (1831); and W . J . Cripps, Old English Plate (9th ed., 1906) .