St Matthias Silver Apostle Spoon, 1641 Thomas Payne

This is an excellent Charles I period silver apostle spoon featuring St Matthias with his axe to the terminal. The battle-axe is said to be the weapon used to behead St Matthias in his martyrdom.

The cast finial retains its original gilt finish and has the sacred dove emblem in high relief to the flat nimbus. The back of the bowl is prick-dot engraved with an original set of betrothal initals "MP" over "BP".

The deep, fig-shaped bowl is in fine condition retaining its original shape and is punched with the leopard's head crowned mark representing London.The hexagonal stem is stamped with three hallmarks - lion passant representing Sterling standard, the date letter for 1641 and the maker's mark "TP" in a shaped punch with pellets above and below - a very similar mark for this maker is shown in Jacksons (Pickford edition) on page 117 as the 13th entry and according to Mitchell in "Silversmiths in Elizabethan & Stuart England", the only candidate attributed with very similar marks is Thomas Payne.

Thomas Payne had been apprenticed to Robert Lymborough from 1612 and died circa 1672. Thomas Payne is noted mostly for his hollowware and so a spoon by him is a rare find. In 1642, soon after the manufacture of this spoon, civil war broke out resulting in the wholesale loss of work for silversmiths and Thomas Payne soon found himself in dire financial straits ending up temporarily in a debtor's jail.

This 380-year old remains in excellent condition with a good, thick rim to the bowl and the cast finial retains its original gilding. An all around fine spoon with nothing to fault.