168 / 229
24-D Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
- AUCTION -
An American silver octagonal sugar bowl
and cover, Joseph Richardson Sr., Philadel-
phia, circa 1740, interior of bowl and lip of
cover engraved with stars to indicate align-
ment, marked on base “IR” in oval, 4½"
diameter, 10 oz. 18 dwt., sold for $81,250 (est.
$70,000/100,000) to Ann Wagner bidding for
the Winterthur museum. This bowl is closely
related to two other octagonal sugar bowls by
Richardson. The first was made for Oswald
and Lydia Peel and was sold at Christie’s on
January 21, 2000, for $310,500. It is recorded
in Richardson’s account book in February
1736: “a Sugar Dish wt 11 oz 9 dwt. at 3/0
per oz,” which cost Peel £5 3s plus an addi-
tional £2 5s for “Making ye above,” according
to Joseph Richardson’s accounts book at the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The second
was sold from the collection of Mr. and Mrs.
Walter M. Jeffords at Sotheby’s on October
29, 2004, for $265,000 (est. $150,000/250,000).
The base of that bowl is engraved “EM,” and
Martha Gandy Fales associated it with one
purchased by Samuel Emlen in 1747.
Porringer by Johannes Nys, Phila-
delphia, circa 1710, keyhole handle
engraved “M*G,” with later foliate
initial “EBW,” marked on the base
“IN” in a heart, 6 oz. 10 dwt., 7¾"
long, sold for $18,750 to Tim Martin
of S.J. Shrubsole, New York. It was the
most expensive porringer of about a
dozen Martin bought during the week.
He paid $5000 for one by Simeon Sou-
maine, New York, 1730, and $10,000
for another small one by Thomas Sav-
age Sr., Boston, 1695, just 5½" long.
The spoon tray by Philip Syng Jr. with cut corners and flared
borders, engraved with a mirror cipher “JBA,” marked
“PS” in a heart-shaped cartouche, weighing 4 ounces, 6½"
long, and probably made for John and Ann Bartram. It was
shown in
Worldly Goods,
the Philadelphia Museum of Art
exhibition in 1999. It sold for $50,000 to James Kilvington,
underbid by Deanne Levison, Atlanta dealer.
A rare American silver sugar box and matching
tea caddy, marked by Simeon Soumaine, New
York, circa 1720, each engraved on one side with
the Bayard coat of arms within a cartouche of
scrolled strapwork and acanthus surmounted by
the Bayard crest, bases later engraved with block
initials “M+V+D,” the sugar box fitted with a flat
sliding cover centering a domed cylindrical finial,
marked in center of bases “SS” in rectangle, length
of tea caddy 4 7/8", 21 ounces, sold for $221,000 (est.
$200,000/300,000) to Tim Martin of S.J. Shrubsole
bidding for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The
matching tea caddy to complete this set of three is
in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
All three are engraved underneath “M+V+D” for
Margaret Van Dam, daughter of Judith Bayard and
Rip Van Dam Jr., suggesting that they were the orig-
inal owners of the two tea caddies and sugar box, the
only set known in American silver.
An American large silver basting spoon, William
Homes Sr., Boston, circa 1745, the octagonal can-
non handle with molded cap and baluster finial
engraved with a crest, bowl with long rat-tail,
marked on back of handle “HOMES” in italic
capitals in rectangle (Kane mark A), 18½" long, 8
ounces, sold in the salesroom to William Firestone
of Boston dealers Firestone and Parson Jewelers
for $16,250 (est. $10,000/15,000). The arms are
those of the Thomas family.
An American silver sugar bowl and cover, Myer
Myers, New York, circa 1750, sugar bowl of
inverted pear shape fitted with a loose conform-
ing cover having a ring top, the whole resting
on a ring foot, later engraved underneath “WSJ
to CJF” and marked “Myers” in a shaped car-
touche on base and cover, sold for $53,125 (est.
$30,000/50,000) to TimMartin for S.J. Shrubsole.
It was probably made for Dr. Samuel Johnson, a
clergyman, educator, philosopher, and a tutor at
Yale and the first president of Columbia in 1754.
A pair of American silver waiters, Simeon Soumaine, New York,
1738-40, with molded piecrust rim, center engraved with foliate
mirror cipher “EC” within a circle, on three scroll legs with hoofed
feet, marked in center of bases “SS” in rectangle,
5 7/8" diameter,
each is 17 oz. 5 dwt. They sold for $161,000 (est. $100,000/150,000)
to Atlanta dealer Deanne Levison. The cipher is that of Elizabeth
Harris Cruger (1712-1760), who married Henry Cruger (1707-80)
in Legnaum, Jamaica in 1736. They returned from Jamaica to New
York in 1738 and perhaps ordered silver from Simeon Soumaine
then or in 1744 when Henry inherited his father’s estate. Another
item belonging to the Crugers, and one of the most famous pieces of
American silver, is the covered sugar bowl by Soumaine engraved
with the same cipher, now in the Garvan Collection at Yale Univer-
sityArt Gallery. The cipher is taken from Colonel William Parsons’s
A New Book of Cyphers
, one of the many manuals available to early
18th-century engravers. The Crugers were active in the West Indian
trade.
This silver dram cup by John Coney, Boston, is a
little gem with clear marks. The circa 1680 cup sold
for $75,000 (est. $15,000/25,000) to Deanne Levison
in the salesroom, underbid by Kevin Tierney rep-
resenting a collector. According to family tradition,
this cup was used to feed infant John Jeffries in the
Jeffries house at Tremont and Bromfield Streets in
Boston, and during a feeding during a storm the roof
fell in, the nurse and baby fell into the basement,
and two beams crossed over their heads and saved
them. Dr. Jeffries was the first to cross the English
Channel in a balloon, and his son was the founder of
the hospital that became Mass General. On January
21, 2000, at Sotheby’s Jonathan Trace bought it for
Ruth Nutt for $90,500 (est. $15,000/25,000).
A rare American silver two-handled cup and cover,
Charles Le Roux, New York, circa 1720, the
lower body and cover with applied strap-
work, the top of one handle engraved
with block initials “A/J*M,”
both sides with a contemporary
crest and a coat-of-arms in a
baroque cartouche within a cir-
cle, marked to left of one handle
“CLR” conjoined in oval, 10¼" high,
45 oz. 10 dwt., sold for $389,000 (est.
$300,000/500,000) to a New York col-
lector in the salesroom. It was made for
James and Mary Alexander, who married
in 1721. James was a merchant, attorney,
and government official; Mary Alexander
looked after the merchant business after her
husband’s early death. She died in 1760. Only
a handful of Colonial American silver “grace cups” survive. A
similar two-handled cup by Charles Le Roux, with the cipher
probably of Frederick de Peyster, is in the Mabel Brady Garvan
Collection at Yale University. It last sold at Sloan’s & Kenyon in
Bethesda, Maryland, on May 31, 2003, for $174,000.
An American silver tankard by Edward Winslow,
Boston, circa 1700, with cut-card work to cover
and lower handle mount, similarly shaped peak,
cherub to handle terminal, the base engraved
with
“W over S*N,” scratch weight 21:19, marked
left of handle “EW” with fleur-de-lys below (Kane
markA), 6 3/8", 21 oz. 10 dwt., sold for $46,875 (est.
$30,000/50,000).
An American silver spout cup
and cover by Philip Syng Jr.,
Philadelphia, circa 1740, base
engraved “N/TE,” marked twice
left of handle “PS” in shield and
with leaf, the cover rim marked
“PS” in heart.
Measuring
6¼"
high and weighing 17 oz. 10
dwt., it sold for $20,000 (est.
$20,000/30,000) to Tim Martin
for S.J. Shrubsole. The initials are
possibly those of Thomas Newbold
(d. 1741) and Edith Coate; they
married in 1724.
An American silver tankard by Gerrit Onckelbag, New York,
circa 1710, cover set with a 1697 coin and engraved peak, han-
dle applied at top with a lion and the lower terminal with
a cherub head, also engraved “HB /I+S,” the front later
engraved with Roosevelt arms in baroque cartouche, marked
twice left of handle and twice on cover “B/GO,” 5 7/8", 18 oz.
5 dwt., sold for $26,250 (est. $30,000/50,000). This tankard,
together with a sword by John Bailey that had been owned
by Isaac Roosevelt, descended in the Hyde Park branch of
the Roosevelt family until sold by Franklin Delano Roos-
evelt’s eldest son, James. It sold at Sotheby’s on October 22,
1988, for $79,750.