FINE SILVER TEASPOON BY PAUL REVERE, THE FAMOUS PATRIOT-SILVERSMITH 

Teaspoon. Silver. Boston: Paul Revere, ca. 1760-1780. Engraved with floral motif and "JRC" to obverse. Stamped with Revere's hallmark to reverse. Approx. 4 3/4 in. long. 

Previously sold at (Sotheby's) Parke-Bernet, New York, November 16-18, 1972, lot 110. 

A silver teaspoon by Paul Revere. Revere’s life in the silver trade began early: at the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to his father in Boston, an experience that not only trained him in the craft but also introduced him to the broad network of merchants, artisans, and civic figures he would later draw upon during the Revolutionary era. After a brief period of service in the French and Indian War, he assumed control of the family’s silver shop upon coming of age, around 1757. In the difficult years that followed the Seven Years’ War and the passage of the Stamp Act, however, business conditions deteriorated.

It was during this same period that Revere became increasingly involved in political life. He formed ties with members of the Loyal Nine, joined the Sons of Liberty, and began producing the political engravings for which he is now celebrated, most famously his print of the Boston Massacre in 1770. His political activity reached its most enduring expression in his famous Midnight Ride, when he helped alert the Massachusetts militia to advancing British troops. Once the Revolutionary War began, Revere was commissioned a major and later promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts militia. His military career, however, ended after the controversy surrounding the Penobscot expedition, which led to his resignation.

Revere then returned to the craft that had first established his reputation. In the postwar period he increasingly produced practical silver wares for everyday use rather than luxury goods intended solely for elite patrons. It was in this era that he is believed to have made teaspoons in greater quantity, likely including the present example. He later expanded his metalworking pursuits further, founding an iron foundry and becoming one of the best-known bell casters in the United States. Though he never lost interest in public affairs, his final decades were defined chiefly by his remarkable career as an American artisan and manufacturer. He died in 1818 at the age of eighty-three.

[Relics, Militaria] [Colonial America, 13 Colonies, Thirteen Colonies] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe]