posted 12-17-2011 08:34 AM            

Above are the largest and smallest cups that I have found. The small one is 2 ½ inches tall, 2 inches wide at the top and tapers to 1 ½ inches at the bottom. The mark is hard to read, but it is “F. A. Beauvais St. Louis M.” This is the mark for Francis A Beauvais born 1824 and died 1893. Francis was the son of Gemini Beauvais who immigrated to St. Louis in 1799 from Montreal, Canada. Francis had three silversmiths’ brothers, Charles, Rene and Augustus. I believe Francis was born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

The large cup is 4 1/2” tall and 3 ½” in diameter at the top. The mark is “John Campbell” with the mark of a flower impressed in the middle of the name. This flower mark turns up on other silver from this area and most likely was the mark used for quality control purposes by the manufacturer to designate the craftsman who actually made the cup.

James Cormany’s article in Silver Magazine, May-June 1992 notes that John Campbell appeared in Montgomery, Alabama in 1849 and retired in 1959.

posted 12-17-2011 09:38 PM            

This cup is 4 1/2” tall with an upper diameter of 3 ¾”. The makers did not put their mark on the cup, but the inscription on this cup is delightful and reads “D. Anthony Acer from his Grand Mother Harriette Peck April 5th 1856”. The engraver was very talented and in a sense gave a sample of all his/her work by engraving each line with a different style or size font. The repoussé work is also intriguing on this cup with a drapery-like top embellishment and a flowing water design appearing to emerge from the bottom of the cartouche.

This cup is the same height as the John Campbell shown above, but does not appear as large since part of the height is taken with the narrow pedestal.

argentum1, maybe this should be considered a cup while the John Campbell piece might best be considered a can.

posted 12-17-2011 09:39 PM            

This cup was made by William Forbes for Ball Black and Company-it is simply inscribed “Emma”. This cup is 4 ¼” tall with an upper diameter of 2 ¾” inches. This cup is only slightly smaller that the Campbell cup and the unmarked cup but appears substantially smaller because of the narrow top.

William Forbes was the son of Colin Van Gelder Forbes and the grandson of William Garret Forbes. William Forbes was active in New York from 1826 to 1863/64. Much of his work is stamped with the eagle and star. McGrew is undecided as to whether these are manufacturers’ marks or journeyman marks.

The flared opening on the unmarked cup and the contracted top on the Forbes cup seem very appropriate for an Anthony and an Emma.

These large cups are really suited for an eggnog punch where a generous portion is desirable.

posted 12-17-2011 10:52 PM            

quote:

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“D. Anthony Acer from his Grand Mother Harriette Peck April 5th 1856”

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posted 12-20-2011 10:17 AM            

Here is a colonial cann by Daniel Henchman of Boston, given to us by Louis Bamberger in the early 1920s.

And here is a 1690s tankard, made for a Newark family, by Gerrit Onckelbag...

A conservative colonial Georgian tankard made in NJ in the 1770s by Abram DuBois for a Dutch family named Vanderveer.

The Victorian version of the mug (no longer called a can) by Baldwin & Co. of Newark, 1850s...

And the great modern avatar of the mug, a silver dixie cup by Ubaldo Vitali, designed for Bulgari in the 1970s, given to the Museum by Ubaldo in 1984.

posted 04-19-2013 03:36 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ahwt:
[Francis A Beauvais born 1824 and died 1893.

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posted 04-26-2013 12:23 AM            

The above photos were taken at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. The Francis A. Beauvais family plot is lot 88 section 3 and by the records of the cemetery Rene Beauvais is listed as the owner of the lot. Rene is listed as being buried on 10/30/76 while Francis was buried on 5/25/97. Francis’s headstone had fallen off its base and while the lettering is worn it appears to indicate he was born in 1823 and died on May 23, 1897. His wife is buried next to him and the headstone appears to have been placed there after her death by their children.