MARK OF JOHN HULL AND ROBERT SANDERSON, BOSTON, CIRCA 1660

Details

AN IMPORTANT SILVER WINE CUP
MARK OF JOHN HULL AND ROBERT SANDERSON, BOSTON, CIRCA 1660
Engraved Property / of the / OLD SOUTH CHURCH, marked near rim with Kane Hull mark B and Kane Sanderson mark A
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high; 11 oz. 18 dwt. (370 gr.)

Literature

E. Alfred Jones, Old Silver of American Churches, 1913, p. 48-49, illus. pl. XXIII
Herman F. Clarke, John Hull: A Builder of the Bay Colony, 1940, p. 212, no. 19
Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, 1998, p. 571 and 885

Lot Essay

John Hull (c.1624-1683) and Robert Sanderson (c.1608-1693), the first working silversmiths in North America, became the Colonies' first mint masters when the Massachusetts Bay Colony established a mint in 1652. In that year, they established a partnership producing silver objects as well as coins, most notably the famous "Pine Tree" shilling. Trained in England, Sanderson moved to America for religious reasons, while Hull was brought to Massachusetts as a boy by his staunchly Puritan parents in 1635. Hull was a founder of the Old South Church.

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