Description:
One of two silver canns with a double-scrolled handle and footed base, which is marked "BENJAMIN / BURT" in slanted roman letters in a shaped cartouche for Benjamin Burt (1729-1805); and engraved with an engraved crest with "an arm embraced and embowed on the front side. The hand proper holding a sword fesswise" or an armored, bent right arm holding a straight sword in the fist. Kane writes that this crest is either that of the Bradstreet or Fuller family. Bolton does not list the Fuller family, but lists this crest on the seal of Simon Bradstreet (1603-1697), a colonial magistrate, businessman and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1679-1686 and 1689-1692; on embroidery possibly owned by Samuel Bradstreet of Marshfield, Massachusetts; and on a pincushion with the arms in pins dated 1772 done for Rev. Issac Story and his wife, Rebecca Bradstreet Story. However, this crest was also used by the de Peyster family, from a silver seal brought over in 1652 by Johannes de Peyster coming from Haarlem, The Netherlands; he was one of six New Amsterdam citizens that wrote the first charter of New Amsterdam. Drinking vessels with a bulbous shape and without lids were popular in the colonies from the 1720s to around 1800; canns varied little in shape other than in their handles, which tended to be double-scrolled starting in the mid 1700s. This cann was one of 92 pieces in the Watson-Crichton Collection (Watson #8), acquired by the Flynts in 1954 from Victor A. Watson (1897-1974), son-in-law and partner of Lionel Alfred Crichton (1866-1938), a retail silversmith and dealer in antique plate with shops in London, New York City and Chicago. Crichton, who was considered one of Britain's most prominent silver dealers of the early 20th century, started collecting American colonial silver for his own personal interest after WWI; the Watsons refused to sell the collection until meeting the Flynts. American silver found in England with English family heirlooms has been called "loyalist silver," since many pieces came to England with returning loyalists; however, this broadly-used term does not allow for pieces sent as gifts and taken over later. Wgt. of pair 20 ozs., 11 cwts.
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