Lot 416
416
A SILVER CANN

Details
A SILVER CANN
MAKER'S MARK OF SAMUEL MINOTT, BOSTON, 1760-1780

Baluster, on spreading molded foot, with leaf-clad scroll handle and molded rim, marked under base--5¼in. high
(12oz.10dwt.)
Provenance
John Hancock (1737-1793), Boston merchant, patriot, Governor of Massachusetts, and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence; thence by descent to the present owner as follows:
Ebenezer Hancock, brother of Hancock (who had no direct descendants)
John Hancock II (d. 1859) son of above
Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty
Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty Wood
Charles Hancock Wood (1882-1955)
John Hancock Wood (1912-1960)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Lot Essay

This cann is the one described in the will of John Hancock II (nephew of Governor Hancock) in 1860 as "a silver can that belonged to Gov. Hancock" (Will, January 14, 1860, p. 4). A copy of the will accompanies this lot. A gold watch and fob seal described in the same will was sold at Christie's January 17, 1992, lot 183. For silver seal with the same provenence, see lot 405.