An Early English Provincial Silver Apostle Spoon, Thomas Mathew, Barnstaple, Circa 1580

Thomas Mathew was one of the most accomplished provincial goldsmiths of the 16th century, making not only spoons but also more substantial pieces. A silver-gilt mounted tigerware jug by him was sold Sotheby's Olympia London, November 21, 2002, lot 172. Another mounted tigerware jug by Mathew is in the Ashmolean Museums and a standing salt is in the Victoria & Albert Museum. While little of his secular plate survived, there is Church plate in about twenty-five parishes.

It is believed Mathew may have been a protestant refugee from the Spanish Netherlands referred to in Goldsmiths Hall as 'Thomas Matthue, Foreigner' sworn on 29 August 1561. He arrived in Barnstaple by about 1560 where parish records indicate the baptism of thirteen children, including two sets of twins, between 1563 and 1578. He was a Capital Burgess between 1584 and 1601. After a career spanning 50 years, he was buried at St. Peter's on 29 December 1611. For more on this maker see Timothy Kent, West Country Silver Spoons and Their Makers, 1992, p. 110-111.