New Colonial American Silver Unboxing : Journey's End (long and boring, don't read)
Weiss
Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
**Warning: This is painfully long, so feel free to skip to the money shots at the end
I started collecting coins when I was about 4 or 5, over 40 years ago. Like many of us, it became my passion and my obsession. As it does with many of us, coins eventually led to precious metals, and on to stocks (and for me, real estate). But the passion for coins remained.
I'd long recognized that coins offer us a chance to learn about a time in history, or an event, or a person and their lives in an incredibly tangible and concise way. A physical way. Unlike a book or a painting or image, coins almost transmit an energy. And as I and my collection matured, I kept being confronted with a numismatic truth (for me, anyway): Quality is so much better than quantity.
We coin collectors and metals enthusiasts are eventually exposed to all forms of exonumia, including the candelabras, silverware, jewelry, etc. that finds its way into our favorite brick & mortar shops. Most of us know what it means when we see a “.925” or a “Sterling” stamped on an object. But some countries necessitate far more complex stamps than just “sterling”. In the UK, for example, better pieces are stamped with a date the object was made, the city in which it was made, the personal stamp of the metal worker who made it, and its purity. These marks, called “hallmarks” were required by law, and the producers were held to strict standards for fear high penalties.
The story of numismatics and these precious metal items are inextricably intertwined. For example, the melting of English silver coinage (Sterling 925/1000 purity) in the late 1600s for use in metal ware became so rampant that it led to coin shortages. Smiths were forced to use a higher standard (Britannia at 958/1000). A date, a mintmark, or an assayer’s mark is by extension a hallmark. Gold and silversmiths were early bankers and lenders. Our own early American history has examples of these smiths who, as trusted experts in coinage, verified or “regulated” coins to attest to their purity, weight, and value by stamping their own hallmark onto the pieces which passed their tests.
In addition to my passion for coins and precious metals, I finally got up the courage about 25 years ago to start home brewing beer. At the time, home brewing was still kind of "out there". Was it even legal? Could it make you sick? But I loved the idea of producing something with ingredients that was close to what those historical figures we encounter through coins would have drank. George Washington had a recipe for beer. Jefferson was a brewer on an even larger scale. Samuel Adams beer was slowly becoming popular. It was patriotic to create something they would have approved of.
One day I was struck with an epiphany! My passion for collecting, numismatics, precious metals, and beer all came together in one thing: The silver beer mug. They are at once works of art, stores of wealth, witnesses of history. They are made of the very thing from which many of our most favorite coins are made. And as with coins, they have a date mark, a city mark, a designer’s initials, a known purity standard.
The aforementioned idea of quality over quantity had led me to a “box of 20” style of coin collecting. It was with that focus that I decided to concentrate on beer mugs from the period around the American Revolution, maybe 1740 to 1780. American pieces of this era are very rare and quite valuable. So I shifted my focus to more plentiful (and considerably less expensive) English pieces. After all (I rationalized), our founding fathers were technically all English up to that point, too. The tavern was the focal point of the town, the gathering place for people to share ideas and beliefs. The place where patriotic speeches were given, where redcoats were quartered and minute men were mustered. And it was possible that pieces made in the 1740s to the 1770s could have been used at a tavern along Paul Revere’s ride, or in a private home in Boston, Philadelphia, or New York by American patriots.
After looking for months, I found a piece by London silversmith John Payne from 1774. That led me to a beautiful piece by another London smith, James Stamp from 1775. Next was a piece by Jacob Marsh from 1770, and then Francis Spilsbury from 1740 (my earliest to date), followed shortly by a piece by John Robbins from 1793 (my latest to date).
Continued below...
--Severian the Lame
Comments
And then… (or tl:dr to the younger people here):
The last two pieces were consolation prizes for the piece that I really wanted. I’d stumbled upon it online months ago (maybe even a year ago) from a dealer who specializes in these early silver pieces. I reasoned it was way out of my price range. Nothing but a fantasy because there was no way this was going to happen. This piece was museum quality. Better to keep collecting more reasonable pieces.
But that box of 20 thing kept digging at me. Quality over quantity. Why buy two or three “nice” pieces, when you can have one “wow” piece?
So I started putting the puzzle together in my mind. It was academic and really just a mental exercise because I knew it would never happen. But I started doing research. Some due diligence. I purchased the best references on this material I could. I got much more familiar with the maker. I researched the piece online. That online search led me to contact The Met in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, and Yale University. Their archivists were incredibly helpful and provided images and documentation not available through any other source.
And started to formulate a plan for the money. Sell this and that, draw down a little here and there. Cash this in. Put off buying that. Finally, I was getting close to it being reality. Then I got a kick in the butt: The maker started being mentioned at an upcoming auction. I figured if I didn’t strike soon, it was going to be too late.
So I contacted the seller and spoke with him at length about the piece. He named the references I’d already found. He offered to put the piece on hold while I continued to research.
Finally, I called one of our own highly-respected members here: Pistareen. He, too, was incredibly warm and gracious on the phone, and he offered great advice. After visiting the dealer’s site, he wrote to me and praised the form, the maker’s marks, and the engraving (which both dealers believe is contemporary). One line he said sealed the deal: “This is a great piece”.
I called the seller and arranged the purchase. It arrived this afternoon.
And as I'm sure you've already guessed...
...
...
--Severian the Lame
I love it! [and I did guess the maker
] The hard work of your research and diligence really paid off... congrats!
Great post, and, congratulations!
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that puppie's been cleaned. Lol! Great piece.
Thank you, gents. If you haven't seen this week's CoinWorld:
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/12/silver-spoon-coin-auction.html
--Severian the Lame
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3dmaZrJx15TbvKPc7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ncjfMXoPabRGoNk27
Ephraim Brasher (born 1744 New York, died 1810 New York)
Brasher lived at 1 Cherry Street, New York. Friend and patron George Washington lived next door at 3 Cherry Street.
Brasher was a member of the New York Provincial Army in 1775 and 1776, serving as a grenadier. He retired from the militia in 1796 with the rank of Major.
Brasher served on the New York Evacuation Committee in 1783, marking the departure of British troops from New York City. He served as sanitary commissioner from 1784 to 1785, coroner from 1786 to 1791, assistant justice from 1794 to 1797, election inspector from 1796 to 1809, and commissioner of excise from 1806 to 1810.
Additionally, Brasher was an assayer for the US Mint in the 1790s.
In 1787, Ephraim Brasher submitted a petition to the State of New York to mint copper coins. The petition was denied when New York decided not to get into the business of minting copper coinage. Brasher was already quite highly regarded for his skills, and his hallmark (which he not only stamped on his own coins but also on other coinage sent to him for assay [proofing]) was highly significant in early America. Brasher struck various coppers, in addition to a small quantity of gold coins, over the next few years.
On January 12, 2005 Heritage Auction Galleries sold all three varieties of Brasher Doubloons as part of their Florida United Numismatists U.S. Coin Auction, Platinum Night Session. The coins realized $2,415,000 for the New York Style EB Punch on Wing NGC AU55, $2,990,000 for the unique New York Style EB Punch on Breast NGC XF45 and $690,000 for the rare but less iconic Lima Style Doubloon.
The unique Brasher Doubloon, the first gold coin made for the young United States, was sold December 2011 by nationally known rare coin dealer, Steven L. Contursi of Laguna Beach, California, to Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC) of Far Hills, New Jersey. An undisclosed Wall Street investment firm subsequently has purchased it from Blanchard and Company of New Orleans, Louisiana for a record price of nearly $7.4 million, the most money ever paid for the historic rare coin.
--Severian the Lame
Love Love Love posts like this
Great post! Congratulations on your acquisition and thanks for posting a great read.
Dilly Dilly!
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
so, tell me who is LAB?
Great story and great piece without even knowing who the owner was.
bob
Great write up. Your passion for the material and history is evident.
Isn't it a good feeling to be passionate about stuff ?
......and it definitely was NOT boring.
Awesome, thank you for sharing !!!
Here's the whole family together for the holidays:
--Severian the Lame
@Weiss....Thank you for a very interesting post... and now I understand what your reference meant in a post a couple of months ago on the PM forum, when I mentioned your mugs. You commented "Stay tuned."...
Fantastic acquisition. That would make anyone proud..... and the research/history to go along with it is just as impressive. Although, my favorite is the tankard style.... the one middle right is my favorite style - and I have admired that one before. Awesome 'box of six' with the crowning glory front and center. Cheers, RickO
Fantastic post and history. Thank you for sharing your passion with us.
8 Reales Madness Collection
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You knew I'd have to share this newest Ephraim Brasher acquisition with the class
Yes, the James Stamp 1.5 pint mug is really impressive in-hand. Right at 20 ounces troy, it has a nice, substantial heft. Interesting story and to further the coin connection: I offered the dealer in the UK a trade for that piece in exchange for a Krugerrand and two sovereigns, with an additional donation to one of my pet charities I suspected would be close to this dealer's heart (Salford Lads Club in Manchester, UK). I'd purchased one of the sovereigns with money I had found through my state comptroller's office--a commission I'd earned but never collected for a long-term disability policy I'd sold many years before when I was a Prudential agent. Many state comptrollers or related agencies have a similar easy-to-use web-based search: Just enter your name and address and they'll tell you if there is a security deposit, commission, estate, insurance payout, etc. waiting for you to claim that you didn't know about.
So not only did I get this impressive piece for a trade (part of which was essentially free), but my favorite charity got a donation as well. Win Win Win
--Severian the Lame
@Weiss....Beautiful tankard... and great backstory.... Thank you for adding that - AND the picture. I keep hoping to find one like that at the local antique shops (there are a lot of them here in my small mountain village). Cheers, RickO
Thread of the year!
Congrats on such an important piece!!!
I enjoyed reading every bit of the write up.
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Very nice piece, congrats
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
What a great story! The heft of that tankard must be impressive. Congratulations.
What a beautiful piece!!!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience. Your patience, persistence and research definitely paid off with this lovely piece.
Congrats on picking up "THE" centerpiece of your collection.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
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Try to find any other piece of that age that hasn't been cleaned
Bob
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I've been speaking with silversmiths and trying to get my head around this piece from a non-numismatic perspective.
New York was the largest city in the country when this piece was made and when Washington lived there next door to Brasher. It was arguably the most important business, shipping, and political center, serving as the nation's capital around this time.
Despite that, New York had a population of just 30,000 people (compared to London with a population of 1,000,000 or more).
How many of them could afford this type of luxury? It would have been the Maybach or the Patek Philippe of its time.
We as numismatists know that coinage was in incredibly short supply during this period. The reason why we have such numerous and colorful colonial and post-colonial issues was in part due to this incredible need. The numismatic workhorses of the time, the English shilling and the Pistareen, weighed about 6 grams each.
This piece clocks in at a hefty 12.3 troy ounces--about 383 grams. That's roughly 65 shillings worth of silver.
An unskilled laborer in New York at the time would make about 2 shillings a day. A skilled mason might earn 4 shillings. So this piece represented 3, maybe 4 weeks worth of labor for most people of the time.
That's to say nothing of the amount Brasher would have charged to his patron for the manufacture of this piece. My research is ongoing, but it appears a piece of this complexity would have taken a skilled smith at least 25 hours of labor to complete. I suspect that number is low.
Ultimately, it wasn't just the fact that this rich person could afford to own this piece and to pay for its creation. They literally had so much money they didn't need to have the excess readily available in the form of much-needed currency. That's how rich they were. There must have been a substantial amount of cache in just that type of exhibitionism.
--Severian the Lame
Factoring in that engraving, indeed a very wealthy person would have had this piece commissioned.
The way these were made is fascinating, completely hand raised. A very skilled silversmith he was!
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Yep, I keep forgetting about the engraving, which is really gorgeous:
--Severian the Lame
Incredible monogram!
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