Lot Essay
One of the drawers in this chest-on-chest is signed "Thomas Potts 1774," a reference to its owner or maker. According to family tradition, the chest was a marriage gift from John Potts (1710-1768) to his son, Thomas Potts (1735-1785) of Philadelphia and Pottstown, Pennsylvania. A wealthy ironmaster and merchant, John Potts built a large Georgian mansion, Pottsgrove Manor, in 1752 and owned considerable property in Philadelphia. Thomas Potts inherited the manor and, after serving as a Colonel in the Revolutionary War, sold it in 1783 to a fellow officer. A tall clock presently in the collection of Pottsgrove Manor bears a medallion inscribed Thomas Potts, which is believed to refer to its owner. Another of the chest's drawers is signed "Hannah Atwater," an unidentified member of a prestigious Philadelphia family. Alternatively, the Potts signature could refer to the chest's maker. A clockmaker by that name was working out of Norristown, Pennsylvania around the year 1760 (Sposato, The Dictionary of American Clock and Watchmakers (White Plains, New York, 1983), p. 135).