Description:
Silver cann marked "BB" in a shaped rectangle twice on the base for Benjamin Brenton (1710-1766), and engraved with an unidentified coat-of-arms with the crest of a bear's gamb holding an axe over a chevron between three seahorses in a surround on the left side of the handle. The arms may be one of the variations of the Tucker family arms, all of which have a chevron between three sea horses in common. Those found in America are described by Charles Knowles Bolton in his "An American Armory": Azure a chevron between 3 sea horses naisant [swimming], and the crest a lion's gamb (erased) grasping a battle axe [or] head [arg.]. Bolton notes that the Tucker arms were "Engraved on chalice from Robert Tucker, 1722, Christ Church, Norfolk, Va. and Bermuda. Also bookplate Richard Tucker, Va. and Bermuda. The family came from Milton, Co. Kent, Eng. Church of St. Peter at St. George's, Bermuda, monumental inscriptions of Va. Tucker family. The motto is: Suspice Teucro. A Tucker bookplate has: Auspice te ucro." Bolton also notes a bookplate for Ichabod Tucker (1765-1846), a lawyer of Salem Mass, although the crest of those arms have an eagle rising; and similar arms for Henry Tooker, a variation of Tucker, of Prince George County, Virginia, who died Oct. 20, 1710. After apprenticing with Arnold Collins (bef.1664-bef.1735) of Newport, Brenton worked from about 1730 to 1747 as a silversmith in Newport. This cann was one of 92 pieces in the Watson-Crichton Collection (Watson #36), 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. 11 ozs., 3 dwts., 14 grs.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.481 |
