ONE WITH MARK OF PAUL REVERE, BOSTON, CIRCA 1801

Details

A PAIR OF SILVER COMMUNION DISHES
ONE WITH MARK OF PAUL REVERE, BOSTON, CIRCA 1801
Each circular, with flat rim, engraved, The property of the first Church in Beverly Purchased by the Pastor, Deac'n Benj'n Cleaves and Deac'n Robert Roundy 1801, one marked on reverse with Kane mark C
13 5/8 in. diameter; 53 oz. 10 dwt. (2)

Literature

E. Alfred Jones, Old Silver of American Churches, 1913, p. 18, illus. pl. VI
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, American Church Silver of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 1911, p.108, no. 892, 893
Patricia Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, 1998, p. 813

Exhibited

"American Church Silver of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911, cat. no. 892, 893

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Lot Essay

The Pastor listed in the inscription was Reverend Joseph McKeen (1757-1807). He served the First Parish Church in Beverly from 1785 until 1802, when he left to become the first president of Bowdoin College in Maine.

The July 6, 1800 Church Minutes record: "The church voted to purchase four dishes for the communion table, and chose Deacon Benjamin Cleaves, Deacon Robert Roundy, & the pastor as a committee for the purpose."

(c) 2008 First Parish Church, UU Beverly, MA 01915 All Rights Reserved
These dishes are also recorded in a rare surviving bill from Paul Revere dated April 22, 1801, illustrated here.

In 1978, two of the four dishes--both marked Paul Revere--were sold privately by the church.

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