Images(4)

Salver

Date1771-1772

Artist/Maker Ebenezer Coker

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsH: (rim) 1 7/16"; Diam: 12 5/32"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1965-151

DescriptionCircular salver; cast shell-and-scroll rim applied to short inclined shaped sides; broad flat circular base forming tray supported on three cast double-scroll legs terminating in abbreviated hoof feet. Cypher "JCG" with floral embellishment engraved on face of tray in center.
Label TextThis salver was acquired with three smaller ones of matching design (1965-152-154) and a partial cruet frame (accession 1965-155). The articles were found buried between two pieces of roofing slate approximately twenty inches below the surface of a field on the farm of Elwood L. Boyce near Bowers Hill in Nansemond County, Virginia, on November 11, 1961. Two mugs of 1771/72 by Charles Wright of London had been previously found that year. All bear the same engraved cypher. Clustering in date between 1765 and 1771 and exhibiting little wear from use, they were probably buried in the eighteenth century, although no immediate reason is apparent. When found, care was not taken from an archaeological standpoint to determine their context.

The key to the identity of the original owners of these pieces is a tankard of conventional baluster form of 1771/72 by Charles Wright of London, the same date and maker as the pair of mugs, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Edenton, North Carolina. It is engraved with the same ornamented cypher confirming its original inclusion in this group, but bears the important later inscription: "Presented to St. Paul's Church. EDENTON. by Mrs Mary Granby. 1833." Mary Harvey Granberry (1771-ca. 1833) was the wife of James Granberry (d. 1804), son of Josiah Granberry (1728-1772) and his wife, Christian Gregory, the original owners of the tankard and the other pieces. Raised in Nansemond County, Josiah Granberry moved to Chowan County, North Carolina, in 1747 and by 1752 had established himself as a merchant. By 1768 he was living in Suffolk, Nansemond County, where he died in December of 1772. He had served as a vestryman of St. Paul's Church in 1755 and as church warden in 1756 and 1762, which perhaps prompted his daughter-in-law's gift.
InscribedCypher of Josiah Granberry (1728-1772), "JCG" and his wife, Christian Gregory, of Suffolk, Virginia, engraved in center
MarkingsMaker's mark "E.C." in block letters within a rectangle with canted corners, leopard's head crowned, lion passant and date letter on underside of tray. Cypher "JCG" with floral embellishment engraved on face of tray in center.
ProvenanceVendor: Joseph A. Miller, Hallieford, Virginia.

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