Silver sugar bowl and cream pitcher, Mrs. Rosette teapot with mushroom- Pitcher and plain creamer, 1805, Mrs. 
D. P. Page, Newburyport, Mass. shaped finial D. P. Page, Newburyport, Mass. 
The Seductions of Old Silver 
By MARY H. NORTHEND 
T here is a widespread and growing interest 
in all old silver, especially in such pieces as 
can be traced hack to Colonial origin. 
Salem, whose commercial prosperity was well estab¬ 
lished by the middle of the seventeenth century, has 
some wonderfully good pieces of Colonial silver, 
many of which are family heirlooms. 
The early American silverware, like our early fur¬ 
niture and architecture, is thoroughly characteristic 
of the tastes and mode of life peculiar to that period 
in America. It is sim¬ 
ple m design and sub¬ 
stantial in weight, 
thus reflecting the 
classic mental atti¬ 
tude of the people. 
Social conditions here 
would not warrant 
any imitation of the 
magnificent baronial 
silver which was then 
being made and used 
in England. Many of the pieces in these collections 
come to us hallowed by a hundred associations and 
by traditions recalling the lives of our forefathers in 
all their manifold phases. The sight of the silver 
communion service recalls the early history of our 
New England churches, it reminds us of the devotion 
of the people to the institutions about which re¬ 
volved both the social life and the political. 
Only the identity of the maker is revealed by the 
hall-mark on American silver. There is no trace of 
the date letter, so prevalent upon English pieces of the 
same period, although various emblems appear, 
which were used as trademarks, peculiar to the 
owner. In cases where the crown appears above the 
initials, it was merely a passing fad to copy the mark 
of certain English silversmiths who enjoyed royal 
patronage. 
The business of making silverware in the colonies 
seems to have been profitable from the first. The 
earliest silversmith of whom we have any record is 
John Hull, horn in 1624 and dying in 1683, who 
amassed much wealth through his appointment as 
Silver candlestick, Mrs. W. 1 ). 
Northend, Salem, Mass. 
Caddy spoon and two styles of creamer, 
all of the eighteenth century 
T65 
