Silver Spoons?

Why does being 'born with a silver spoon in your mouth' suggest inherited wealth and privilege?

Apostle spoons were a symbol of wealth

The phrase has its origins in the Tudor aristocratic practice of guests taking their own cutlery to feasts. - Party Tonite at the Castle! Mead supplied - BYO eating implements! 

This lead to suitably church-endorsed 'apostle spoons' becoming popular christening gifts. These had a the image of a saint embedded in the handle. 

Because they were on public display, the quality of the metal symbolised personal wealth. At the lower end of the market the spoons would be silver plated or made from other materials such as pewter. The most prestigious were hallmarked sterling silver - and very valuable. 

The first written reference to the christening spoons tradition comes in Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Henry invites Cranmer to be godfather to his daughter, Elizabeth. Cranmer protests that he is unworthy etc while Henry joshes that the gig will save him the cost of a present:

KING HENRY: Come, come, my lord—you’d spare your spoons.

The idiom also appears Peter Anthony Motteux's 1719 translation of Don Quixote: "every Man was not born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth." This is not a literal translation of the original Spanish word tocino (a hook for hanging ham). Two years later there was further confirmation of the widespread use of the phrase in a book of Scottish proverbs: "Every Man is not born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth."

In Georgian England the introduction of place settings meant that BYO cutlery became a class marker of the lower orders. But the giving of christening spoons spread to the middle classes. Indeed, trusting guests with 'the family silver' is joked about in  Boswell's The life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Sir, when he leaves our houses, let us count our spoons.

Plague Protection?

Another association with the silver spoon was related to the fear of the plagues that were still a regular occurrence until the 18th Century. Noting the better survival rates of aristocratic families it was believed that the spoons protected against infection - not the case of course with regard to bubonic plague.

But the cleanable silver spoons were generally better at protecting against cross infection than the wooden ones used by the poor.