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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: joshman108 on June 29, 2012, 05:28:33 PM
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Hi. My aunt calls me up out of the blue today and says she thinks she has a paul revere teapot.
She bought it (why is she just thinking about it now??) about 30 years ago in a thrift shop. She said a guy was following her around the whole time and when she checked it out he asked her "you do know what youre buying dont you?" To which she responded "of course."
Secretly she had no idea. I dont know why she didn't just ask him. If she did, I wouldnt have to be on this wild goose chase right now.
She thinks it's paul revere because she bought it in PEN.
Im just looking for either some general clues. Any website I can go to?
All we know is it is coated silver, something, probably brass or copper, is coming through underneath.
It has the number 41 under the lid and 198 under the pot.
I can put up more pics if needed. She sent me 111 pics. It took forever to download.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7469482728_77361265aa.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80805909@N08/7469482728/)
New Image (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80805909@N08/7469482728/) by jflo5 (http://www.flickr.com/people/80805909@N08/), on Flickr
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Can we see the bottom and the hinge on the lid ??
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I just searched images of Paul Revere's silver work. His work seems a little finer than this pot. I may be wrong. I'm not a silver expert, but mart is right, we have to see the bottom. The pattern doen't seem to fit.
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All we know is it is coated silver, something, probably brass or copper, is coming through underneath.
Uhhhhh, i am not an expert but if its plated silver i doubt it was made by Paul Revere. It's my understanding American colonial silver was made by melting silver coins into a flat sheet, cutting it and cold hammering the metal into various shapes. Silver plate didnt come along until the mid 19th century? long past when Revere was a silversmith. At auction, one often sees American 18th century silver pieces described as "coin silver". Here is a link that offers info on Revere's work.
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/bio/silver.html
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I am thinking this is probably Sheffield plate or similar !! Silverplate over a copper base !! If she bought it 30 years ago,,there was a collecting binge for copper based plate items about then and earlier !! I sold quite a bit of it at good prices late 70`s and 80`s !!
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Don't believe it is an authentic one for sure.
Can you post a pic of the bottom?
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Does not look like any of the known examples !! Of course every silver company that I can think of has a Paul Revere line !! Gorham, Rogers Bro`s R&B all have them and all are called Paul Revere teapots !! Perhaps that is what she means !!
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Yeah, well, according to Revere's work books, he made 5000 objects in silver during his career and among them, 64 tea pots which isnt alot. What is seen at auction today is, spoons that were made by him. Tea pots were very expensive to make back in the day so it's not surprising to me that he only made 64 of them. After the war Revere got into the copper business when he built a mill that rolled it into copper sheet, that company is still in biz today.
http://www.reverecopper.com/
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I could not find out if he ever made teapots in silver plate !! Do you know Jacon4 ?? Like I said ,,I think it is one of the teapots in a Paul Revere line by one of the modern mfrs !!
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I have a piece of modern day "Revere Ware". I'll post it tomorrow. It's late. I got it as a gift about 25 or 30 yrs ago. Modern day, lol I'll have to check if there's a date.
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No, Paul Revere never made silver plated objects as it wasnt invented until the mid 19th century. The silver objects Revere made were "coin silver" , basically you melted silver coins which was money at the time. So if one wanted a teapot for instance that weighed 20-30 ounces, this was going to be a very expensive proposition in Revere's time.
It might be a Revere Ware type dealio but as for an 18th century silver object made by Paul Revere? No. Revere was a registered silversmith in London and as such, his makers mark is well known & published as were all silversmiths that were British subjects.
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I would add that Revere had a father who was a silversmith too and Paul Jr used the same makers mark as his dad, at least for a time. So it really does take an expert to know the difference between the two Reveres. Naturally, since jr was the guy who made the midnight ride, his stuff is more valuable. Wheres the silver people on this board?
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Not many silver people here !! Mostly hit and miss on my part !!
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LOL, no silver people huh? Well, silver is kinda a big deal in the antiques world, its not my field of interest but there are those that specialize in silver and metal objects.
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I'm a big time silver collector....and stated earlier it wasn't an original. You are right, he didn't do silver plate.
Still would like to see a pic of the underside!!!
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Theres one now, a silver person! lol. Yeah, when Revere was operating in Boston, they did things the old fashioned way, no doubt. It wasnt until the industrial revolution in the 1850s or so that silver plate came along. Anothing thing, in England, there was a very powerful guild system (union system over here) and they prohibited the colonies from all kinds of stuff as they wanted to ship finished goods to the colonies, not raw materials. Foundries for instance were absolutely a big NO NO in the colonies, not only because of economic issues but political reasons as well, cannons were cast from brass and no telling where that could lead!
So how did Revere and other silversmiths in american colonies get around all this, they melted english & spanish silver coins for their silver which is why american silver objects are known as "coin silver".
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Just did a quick google on auctions, Revere silver. Heres a piece of his work with his makers mark, it sold in 2010
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-silver-quart-cann-mark-of-paul-5286719-details.aspx?pos=2&intObjectID=5286719&sid=&page=7
Wow, check out this paul revere tea set, it doesnt say how many ounces in all these pieces but it had to be very expensive back in the day
http://www.americanaweek.com/tag/paul-revere/
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(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7259/7490040814_30b894f4f4.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80717704@N06/7490040814/)
aaaa (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80717704@N06/7490040814/) by joshman108 (http://www.flickr.com/people/80717704@N06/), on Flickr
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7490040358_064bb330e9.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80717704@N06/7490040358/)
aaa (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80717704@N06/7490040358/) by joshman108 (http://www.flickr.com/people/80717704@N06/), on Flickr
Thanks for all the awesome responses guys!
Heres the pictures, let me know if you need better ones, or just want to know what the markings say, but Im pretty sure I posted the markings on the first post.
If it's not revere anyone have an idea what it is?
She said someone followed her like it was something important.
Is plated silver ever worth any money though? I looked up plated gold pocket watches a while ago and it was nothing compared to solid.
Thanks!
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And you will find the same with this teapot !! There were just too many made 20th century but some earlier ones can get a few bucks !! And as I said before,, if the base metal is copper it is both collectable and has melt value !! Copper ain`t cheap !! This teapot appears very 20th century to me !!
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This is way off thread but goes to the value of metal in early american living. In 17th century Virginia, they passed a law in 1645 outlawing the burning of your house when you moved to a new location. Odd now to think that people did that back in the day, the reason? So they could recover the iron nails used to build the structure and take them when they moved. The law also stipulated that the govt would give the home owner an equal amount of nails that were used in the construction to prevent this arson.
http://www.gregorylefever.com/pdfs/Early%20Nails%202.pdf
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Well I never heard that before !! Today the nails are junk and we save the wood !!
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No it's the copper tubing in Phila., lol I laugh when we go to different areas and they'll leave windows open when they build. You leave the windows open in Phila. you'' loose a lot more than copper ;D I'll have to read the article. My husband was a blacksmith when we first got married, That job will kill you. The graphite gets in your lungs and goes thru your clothes. Today you might as well burn your house when you move, it's not worth much anyway!