St Nicholas used to scare me as a child. The 'mild' story goes that he saved some children from being sold off by their impoverished parents and he threw three gold coins (one per child) through the window so that the children could remain with their parents. He is usually displayed with them in a bucket. The further twist in the story is that my grand mother claimed her sister had done the family tree and discovered they descended from St Nicholas of Flüe, not the same St Nicholas but still!
As it tuns out, there are some more hardcore versions: three young children - lost - asked a butcher to help them. He promptly killed them, chopped them up and turned them into patés. Seven years later, St Nicholas came upon the butcher and insisted that he wished to eat those patés. The butcher fled and St Nicholas resuscitated them (and I assumed pieced them together again). He later came across 3 young maidens who could not marry as their father was too poor. He then either put three gold coins in their stockings that had been left to dry or interceded with the powers above so that money appeared and the father was able to marry them.
Anyhow, his symbol is three gold coins on a blue background.
My St Nicholas is Nick Wiltshire, a photographer who I am sure does not eat small kids. On the other hand, he does take some pretty fine pictures.
Oil on gesso, 4 x 6 inches
That one was at the Worcester Open in July 2013.