Copper Tea Kettle, Benjamin Harbeson Sr. (1729-1809), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Circa 1775

The Harbeson family of Philadelphia was well known as metalsmiths and merchants and were equally prominent socially and politically. The patriarch, Benjamin Harbeson Sr., immigrated to America from Ireland at the age of eight years-old and became one of the most successful coppersmiths in Philadelphia. A number of his advertisements of his own work as well as imported goods have survived from as early as 1754. He was a well known patriot, serving on several committees with his friend, Benjamin Franklin, as well as helping finance George Washington's Continental Army. Per Horvath and Poston, Harbeson used the counterfeit touch mark to dupe authorities into believing his wares were imported from England, as colonial law required before the Revolutionary War. For more information of the Harbeson family, see Donald J. Horvath and Shelley Horvath Poston, Early American Copper Tea Kettles, Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, Red Metal Press, 2010, p. 142-7.