MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1879-1891

This tray is engraved with the initials of Jeanette Boyd Ballantine. She married John Ballantine (1834-1895) who was the son of the founder of the renowned Newark brewer and became president of the company in 1883. In 1885 they commissioned the architect, George Edward Harney (1840-1924), to build a Renaissance, Georgian and Romanesque style mansion overlooking Newark's Washington Park. The Newark Museum bought the twenty-seven-room house in 1937, restored it, and opened it to the public as a house museum in 1976. The mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. A portrait of Jeanette Boyd Ballantine can be found at the Newark Museum.

A Tiffany silver tea tray engraved with the monogram of John and Jeannette Ballantine was sold at Christie's, New York, 23 May 2006, lot 33.