A James I/Charles I silver-gilt unascribed Wessex/West Country apostle spoon, probably St.Matthew, of good gauge, the figure of large proportions without a nimbus on a straight-sided hexagonal stem, pricked on the back of the bowl with the initials and date "R.V. S.M. 1627", stamped thrice on the back of the stem with a castle turret mark and once in the bowl with an "A.B" mark overstriking a pelleted circle mark, (Salisbury type), unascribed, probably Salisbury area circa 1625 - 20cm long, 1.75oz. Literature: How, Silver Spoons and Pre Elizabethan Hall Marks on English Plate, Vol II, plate 34.9, to compare the distinctive style of the "Astor" St. Matthew apostle figure with this one. Kent, West Country Silver Spoons and Their Makers, p11, where Kent notes "some (apostle) spoons are without nimbus' and although from time to time one encounters a spoon that has lost its nimbus, many (such as the A.B. group) never had one. In passing it may be said that the "A.B" group is almost certainly of West Country origin though the precise location has yet to be determined....and my opinion is that "A.B" is a maker's mark not a town mark. As one of their apostle castings has been noted on a spoon bearing the mark of John Greene (I), (Salisbury), I think we are looking for somewhere within the Salisbury catchment area, which was large". Jackson's Revised p.521/2 for "A.B and castle marks. Provenance: Formerly in the collection of Sir Clive Edwards Bt.