A VERY FINE LARGE SILVER TABLESPOON

MAKER'S MARK OF PAUL REVERE, BOSTON, 1781

Details
A VERY FINE LARGE SILVER TABLESPOON
maker's mark of paul revere, boston, 1781
Round-end handle with bright-dut chevron decoration and scrolled cartouche in relief, elliptical bowl swaged with a drop and foliate scroll, the terminal engraved with a crest, marked on reverse
8¾in. long

Lot Essay

The crest is that of Russell
This tablespoon is one of "12 Large Table Spoons 28oz. = 0" recorded in Revere's daybooks on September 1, 1781, along with other wedding silver made for Margaret Russell (1757-1789), who married John Codman on July 15, 1781. The account entry in Revere's Daybook illustrates the custom of wedding silver being purchased by the bride's father, Thomas Russell, and being engraved with the father's rather than the husband's crest, emphasizing that wedding silver remained the wife's personal property.
[photo caption "Thomas Russell's order of September 1, 1781, in Paul Revere's Waste Book, v.I., p.65"]