This large coin silver tea caddy comes from the Boston firm of Newell Harding & Co. Its oval body is decorated around the top and base with bands of silver with a line
of fine beading. Encircling the area beneath the top band is a lovely engraved grapevine. The same motif executed on a smaller scale decorates the edge of the
hinged cover. Attached at the top of the dome is a branch with leaves and a bud or fruit.
Underneath the hinge on the back is an engraved crest over a coat of arms in a shield for Armory. On the front side are the engraved initials 'WEA'.
The Amory family was one of Boston's leading families of the 19th century. Emigrating from England to
Charleston, SC, in the 1690's, they then left for Boston around 1720.
William Amory graduated from Harvard in the class of 1823 (which included George Peabody, William Sturgis and other notables), he then studied law but made a
career as an executive of several New England manufacturing concerns including the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., the Jackson Manufacturing Co., The Stark mills and others. ("The Death of William Amory"
in The Boston Globe, December 9, 1888, p. 2)
The Amoskeag mills were one the first mills in Manchester, NH and in which the family had a significant interest. When William began working there the company had 2000
spindles and when he left it had 137,000. (The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, [New York: James White & Co., 1916], p.37)
William's son William Amory, Junior married Ellen Brewer in 1860. The tea caddy features the Amory family crest, coat of arms and the
combined initials of William & Ellen Amory. In all likelihood, it was a wedding present from the Amory side of the family.
This stunning tea caddy is marked underneath 'N. HARDING & CO/ COIN/ BOSTON'. It measures just under 6 inches long by 3.75 inches deep by 5.75 inches
high.It is made of heavy gauge silver, weighing 20.10 troy ounces, and is in excellent antique condition with very light wear.
Our Price: SOLD
Item code: D038
|
