posted 02-20-2008 10:21 AM            

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A snuffbox by Revere? Pinch yourself, owner is told

A snuffbox by Revere? Pinch yourself, owner is told
Undaunted, R.I. collector says the experts are wrong

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | February 20, 2008

Everyone wants to own a piece of history, especially if there is a chance that it was made by Paul Revere.

Consider Steve Dionne, who says he "melted" the first time he saw the tiny silver snuffbox, the motto "Liberty is Pleasant" engraved on its tortoiseshell cover.

Dionne was smitten with the notion that the knickknack he had spotted had been made by Paul Revere. Unlike most New Englanders who dream of finding treasure in the attic, Dionne has sought to prove his unlikely contention with a patriot's zeal, refusing to back down in the face of the indifference of art historians.

"If the box could open up and talk, it would be screaming, 'Paul Revere,' " said Dionne, a gregarious building contractor from Providence. "When my eyeballs first hit the box, I was blown away by it, because I know his lettering. All I could think was, how am I going to prove it?"

In fact, he has yet to establish any connection between the box and Revere. But that did not stop him from putting it up for sale on eBay for $2.5 million. (He has since removed the listing, he said, because he found no takers.)

An amateur collector of early Americana, Dionne said he bought the snuffbox two years ago from an antiques dealer who told him it came from an estate sale in Vermont. Dionne declined to say what he paid for it, but called it a "decent, not enormous" sum.

Drawing on his own tireless research - and frequently quoting Revere's writings from memory - Dionne makes a detailed case for his view that the snuffbox was crafted by Revere around 1800 and that the early American patriot and silversmith used it to carry his own supply of snuff, the tobacco powder that was once considered a more stylish habit than cigarettes.

Dionne said he has contacted dozens of museums about the artifact - including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London - but none has undertaken a serious study of the item's provenance.

Curators at the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Paul Revere House in Boston said Dionne sent them photos of the snuffbox. They made it clear that they do not spend their time authenticating or appraising objects - so hold off on sending them that beer mug you're convinced once belonged to Sam Adams - but in this case they consulted experts. They saw no convincing evidence.

"It's an attractive dream to a lot of people that they've found an unknown piece, and it's hard to accept if it's not what they're hoping," said Anne Bentley, curator of the art collection at the Historical Society. "Revere is the epitome; everybody's got one."

Dionne is undaunted by such dismissals. He points to the unusual pique style of the box's construction, in which silver strands are laid into carvings in tortoiseshell. Though the technique was uncommon in early America, Dionne argues that Revere would have known it because of his father's French Protestant background. (Apollos Rivoire, a goldsmith, anglicized the family name after immigrating.)

Dionne also cites as evidence the scene on the box's cover, which depicts a cluster of buildings and fences, a winged heart floating above them, and the "Liberty is Pleasant" motto. The collector says the structures resemble those that stood on Revere's farm in Canton when he first bought it in 1801; furthermore, he says, the property was located near streets named Liberty and Pleasant.

Dionne said his research revealed that Revere did not always sign his creations with the trademark "PR" that adorns countless spoons and vessels recognized as his work.

A forensic document examiner Dionne hired from Texas, Joe Alexander, agreed with his assessment that the plain capital lettering on the box resembles Revere's engravings elsewhere.

Andrew Katz, a Vermont antiques appraiser hired by Dionne, confessed he first thought Dionne's claim was "off the wall," but he later signed on to the notion that the box could be authentic.

"When he started to outline the research he had done and I started doing my own, it made sense," said Katz.

That kind of backing has kept Dionne's belief alive.

He has been presenting his case to curators and experts, some of whom start laughing, he admits, as soon as he mentions Revere.

"People want to own things that have some significance or belonged to significant people," said the director of the Paul Revere House, Nina Zannieri.

"It's a very natural thing, and it can be hard to dissuade them," Zannieri said. "It makes it tough for folks like us who don't like to be in the dream-bashing business."

Dionne, holding fast to his dream, says the biggest problem with the box is its rarity. Among the hundreds of items credited to Revere, only two other snuffboxes are known to exist.

When specialists are presented with something they know nothing about, he said, "they're very reluctant to want to put their name on it. The question I'd like to ask them, if I could pile them all in a room, is who could have produced it, on top of Paul Revere?"

Dream on, Steve Dionne

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