Macabre Mystery of a British Family’s Skull-Topped Spoons

It's hard to believe now how common it was for children to die in infancy before modern medicine. Parents didn't love their kids any less, though, so it was a source of great pain. As the article points out, "memento mori" stuff was a way to inoculate yourself emotionally for the inevitable incidence of one of your small children dying.

Damn, my baby spoon was not nearly as cool. It's interesting how something that was pious in the 17th century seem kind of Metal now.