Description:
Silver tankard with a high domed, stepped cover with a serrated flange and without a finial (a common Philadelphia form), cylindrical tapering body with a molded base, and a scroll thumbpiece and handle terminating with a cast cherub's head terminal, which is marked "WV" over a star in a heart on each side of the handle for William Vilant, and engraved with a crest in an scroll and foliate cartouche on the front side. The weight, "oz/13 gm/8" is etched on the base. This tankard was one of 92 pieces in the Watson-Crichton Collection (Watson #38), 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. 12 ozs., 5 dwts.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.482 |
