American Silver Salver, Thomas Fletcher, Philadelphia, 1827-35

The engravings on the base read: "A Legacy from Ardelia Williams to her Sister Elizabeth Sigourney 1841", "E. Sigourney to her Sister Catharine Williams.", "C. Williams to D.A. Sigourney, May 1850.", and "Harriet Sigourney to my Nephew Henry H. Sigourney, 1895."

Andrew Sigourney was a Huguenot from near La Rochelle who escaped to London and thence to Boston arriving late in 1686. A family history by H.H.W. Sigourney “A Genealogy of the Sigourney Family” was printed in 1857, with a facsimile printed by Apple Manor Press, March 11, 2017. Henry Howell Williams Sigourney was born in Chelsea, Suffolk Co., Mass in 1807, of parents Daniel Sigourney (1769-1818) and Martha Williams (1768-1828) and died in Milton, Mass in 1874.

The stamp “crowns” struck near the maker’s mark was used by Fletcher to indicate English coins of that denomination, showing that the object is made of that standard of fineness.

An identical salver by Fletcher & Gardiner engraved with the arms of Craig was sold Sotheby's New York, January 20, 2012, lot 91. The same foot was used on the salver made for Isaac Hull and engraved with his arms (see Donald L. Fennimore and Ann K. Wagner, Silversmiths to the Nation, Thomas Fletcher & Sidney Gardiner: 1808-1842, pp. 158-159, no. 32).