Guaranteed to stir bidders, Tudor silver spoons starred at autumn sales at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) in Leyburn and Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) in Crewkerne.
A rare Henry VII parcel gilt apostle spoon with an indistinct maker’s mark for London 1508 led the silver at Tennants on November 14.
Depicting St John holding the cup of sorrow, the 7¼in (18.5cm) long spoon has a provenance back to March 1906 when it took a considerable £125 at Christie’s and most recently at Christie’s in 1991, when it made a premium-inclusive £4620.
At Tennants it sold to a UK collector bang on mid-estimate at £10,000 hammer.
Elizabethan examples
The October 20 sale at Lawrences included two Elizabethan silver-gilt spoons. Best was a London 1564 apostle example depicting St Simon Zelotes. Bearing a bird’s-claw maker’s mark for Francis Jackson, the 7in (18cm) long spoon more than tripled its lower estimate in selling to a UK collector at £4800.
The other Elizabethan spoon, a 6¾in (17.5cm) London 1583 seal top with a maker’s mark of a mullet over an annulet, exceeded the £1200-1600 estimate, going to a London dealer for £3000.
