Description:
Silver goblet with a rounded bowl encircled with beading and engraved bright-cut designs aroun the rim and a beaded band around the base of the bowl, over a trumpet-shaped foot with a beaded band around the rim edge; the interior of the bowl appears to have been gilded. The goblet is marked "WILLIAMSON" in roman letters in a rectangle on the bottom for Samuel Williamson (1772-1843), and engraved with the initials "FIL" in script on one side. After completing his apprenticeship with Philadelphia silversmith Joseph Lownes in 1793, Williamson went on to be one of the early entrepreneurs in the silversmithing trade. He was in partnership with Samuel Richardson from 1797-1800. Then on his own, he routinely employed the services of other silversmiths, sent large quantities of silver to New Orleans on speculation, and had business connections in every major city on the eastern seaboard. After a successful career in silver, Williamson retired in 1813 to become a farmer. Samuel Williamson also made the tankard (HD 97.060.11) presented to John Williams and then given to the First Church of Deerfield. This goblet was one of 92 pieces in the Watson-Crichton Collection (Watson #45), 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.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.490 |
