An American Silver Creamer, Paul Revere II, Boston, 1793

Joseph and Anna Blake, Boston

Philip H. Hammerslough Collection, Hartford, CT

Lansdell K. Christie Collection, sold, Parke Bernet, New York, May 17, 1968, lot 198 and cover illustration

Philip H. Hammerslough and Rita F. Feigenbaum, American Silver Collected by Philip H. Hammerslough, vol. I, Hartford, Connecticut, 1958, pp. 68–69, illus.

Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, Yale, 1998, p. 815

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mid 20th Century (It was noted in the Hammerslough book that the tea set, including creamer, was on exhibition there for over 20 years.)

This creamer was part of a set including a teapot and stand, each engraved with the initials JAB. The set is recorded in Paul Revere's "Day Book" on March 26th, 1793. The weights of each piece are listed there, with the creamer noted at 6 oz 5 pe. The stand was the only piece marked and bears the REVERE mark (Kane mark B).

The initials are those of Joseph (1766–1802) and Anna Blake, married in Boston on January 6, 1793. Rosanna "Anna" Black was born in 1770 in Boston to Andrew Black, a prosperous shipping merchant of Boston, and Rachell Harvey. She married Joseph Blake, Jr., a son of the former partner of her father. In 1810, Anna received an inheritance of $1000 from her uncle, where she is noted as a widow. She remarried January 31, 1813 to Benjamin Whitman. She died December 2, 1848 in Dorchester, Massachusetts at the age of 78 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.