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posted 02-05-2020 02:17 PM            

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Just sharing a recently acquired item, a punch strainer monogrammed LYDIA FISHER 1814 and LF, with an engraved crest of a bird and eggs.

I believe this was made in Philadelphia, perhaps by Chaudron's & Rasch, because the milled band is associated with them (see the Glossary of Milled Bands thread). But the partnership had broken up a few years before 1814, so maybe some other silversmith was using this band?

I found a Philadelphia Lydia Fisher who married in 1814, so I think this may have been a wedding present to her. (She came from a prominent Quaker merchant family and married a bookseller; her family were abolitionists.) Her family papers are in the Historical Society of Philadelphia. Someday I'll take a trip to Philadelphia and see if I can find any mention of this punch strainer. Wouldn't it be fun to find a thank-you note for it?

In any case, I'm pleased as punch about it.

[This message has been edited by Scott Martin (edited 02-05-2020).]

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posted 02-05-2020 06:42 PM            

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Great find and wonderful detective work.
You might send a picture of your strainer to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They are doing a series of books now on American silver in their collection and this sure looks like something they would have an interest in. I have never seen a handle like this one has and it may be characteristic of a smith they know.
I wonder if the feathered monogram is the original one and the block lettered one was added in 1814. It could be an early piece from Chaudron & Rasch.

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posted 02-05-2020 07:17 PM            

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Thank you, AHWT! That's a good idea. Is there someone in particular I should contact there? Maybe it will be obvious when I poke around looking for the books...

I see I forgot to put the link to Lydia's family papers: Fisher Family Papers, 1761-1889

[This message has been edited by Scott Martin (edited 02-05-2020).]

[This message has been edited by Polly (edited 02-05-2020).]

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posted 02-05-2020 08:38 PM            

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Lydia's mother, Sarah Redwood, had some nice silver, as well. She inherited her father's Rhode Island estates the year after Lydia's marriage, which included this coffeepot by Joseph and Nathaniel Richardson

It is engraved WSR for William and Sarah [Saunders, his second wife] Redwood. It sold in 2017 at the breakup of the Iris Schwartz Collection for a very tidy sum.

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posted 02-05-2020 08:54 PM            

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Beatrice B. Garvan is curator emerita of American decorative arts and David L. Barquist is the H. Richard Dietrich, Jr., Curator of American Decorative Arts, both at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are the listed authors of this series. The Museum’s address is:
2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130

I suspect that they will suggest a donation is in order.

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posted 02-05-2020 10:21 PM            

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WEV, what a handsome coffeepot! (For what a pretty penny.)

AHWT, thank you. A donation of Lydia's punch strainer, did you mean? What a lot of Philadelphia silver punch/lemon/citrus strainers they already have! Searching the museum's website: Two by Philip Syng, Jr., one by Joseph Richardson, Jr., one by Samuel Richards, Jr. (do they prefer punch/lemon/etc strainers by silversmiths who shared their names with their fathers?) and a few other Philadelphia strainers, not to mention all the unmarked, English, and Irish ones. Well, if they REALLY want Lydia's too, I guess they can have it. But they'll have to wait a bit. I only just got it & am not ready to part with it!

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