Images(6)

Caster

Dateca. 1738

Maker Richard Gurney & Thomas Cooke II (active 1727 - 1773)

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver (sterling)

DimensionsOH with lid: 4 5/8 in.; OH without lid: 4 in.; OH of lid: 7/8 in.; O Diam. of lid: 1 3/4 in.; O Diam. of body at midband: 2 7/16 in.; O Diam. of foot: 2 in.

Credit LineGift of Thomas L. Norris, Jr. and Jane S. Norris

Object number2018-211,A&B

DescriptionSterling silver caster or pepper pot: Stepped circular foot with short incurving neck supports baluster-shaped body with mid-band and threaded circular rim. Low domes lid with threaded edge, piercing and quarter bead at apex. Marked in relief on base: 1) Sponsor's mark "R?G" with "T" above and "C" below in block letter within a cruciform-shaped reserve [Grimwade 1990 #2324] and 2) lion passant. Also marked in relief with leopard's head crowned on side of body below rim, and with sponsor's mark (?) inside of lid (obliterated by piercing). Additional mark struck in relief on side of body below midband: a French mark of a boar's head used in Paris 1768-1774 for medium size old silver [Tardy, International Hallmarks on Silver 1985, p. 129]
Label TextMost English casters of "bun-top" type date from the second quarter of the eighteenth century; they probably served as pepper pots. This joins a smaller bun-top caster by the same makers, dated 1737/38, already in the Colonial Williamsburg collection (1954-568,A&B).