Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 25:11

"A word fitly spoken Is [like] apples of gold in network of silver." — Proverbs 25:11 (ASV)

Apples of gold - Probably golden-colored fruit set in baskets (that is, chased vessels of open-worked silver); so is a word spoken upon its wheels (that is, moving quickly and quietly on its way). The proverb may have had its origin in some kingly gift to the son of David, the work of Tyrian artists, like Hiram and his fellows. Others gazed on the skillful work and admired, but the wise king saw in the costly rarity a parable of something higher. “A word well set upon the wheels of speech” excelled it. Ornamentation of this kind in the precious metals was known, even as late as in the Middle Ages, as oeuvre de Salomon.