Apostle spoon

The British Museum in London has a set from England dating from 1536–7 which has a figure of the Virgin Mary on the thirteenth spoon.

They first appeared as a bequest in the will of one Amy Brent who, in 1516, bequeathed "XIII sylver spones of J' hu and the XII Apostells."

They are alluded to by the dramatists Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, Francis Beaumont, and John Fletcher.

Shakespeare refers to it in Henry VIII, Act 5, Scene 3, where Cranmer declines to be sponsor for the infant Elizabeth because of his lack of money.

Such examples would typically be in electroplated nickel silver and marked on the rear face with "EPNS."