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Lot Essay
The engraved coat-of-arms is that of Willink, probably for Wilhelm Willink (1750-1841) a wealthy Dutch merchant and financier of American businesses in the late 18th century. In 1790 Willink was part of a group of thirteen investors that formed the Holland Land Company. The company purchased large areas of land in western New York and northern Pennsylvania, which they resold to settlers and emerging businesses. In 1792-1793 the Holland Land Company purchased 3,250,000 acres in western New York from Robert Morris (1734-1806), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the richest man in America at that time. A decade later Willink was an investor in the Louisiana Purchase. The town of Willink in Niagara County, NY was named for him in 1804.
Willink's son, John Abraham Willink (1780/81-1852) was a prominent businessman with dealings in both New York and Liverpool, England. He partnered with his cousin, Daniel Willink (1779-1859) to form the company D. & J..A. Willink & Co. with offices in both New York and abroad. He married Cornelia Ann Ludlow on 2 May 1816, and the couple maintained a large country estate in Flatbush Long Island. Willink died suddenly in 1852 due to injuries sustained from a fall from his horse. As the couple had no children, the estate passed to Cornelia's relation, Maria Phillip Selleck James (1815-1910), who bequeathed a portion of her collection of decorative arts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A set of six beakers dated 1770-1776 or 1784-1795 by Myers are illustrated David L. Barquist, Myer Myers Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, pp. 186-187, figs. 88-90.
Willink's son, John Abraham Willink (1780/81-1852) was a prominent businessman with dealings in both New York and Liverpool, England. He partnered with his cousin, Daniel Willink (1779-1859) to form the company D. & J..A. Willink & Co. with offices in both New York and abroad. He married Cornelia Ann Ludlow on 2 May 1816, and the couple maintained a large country estate in Flatbush Long Island. Willink died suddenly in 1852 due to injuries sustained from a fall from his horse. As the couple had no children, the estate passed to Cornelia's relation, Maria Phillip Selleck James (1815-1910), who bequeathed a portion of her collection of decorative arts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A set of six beakers dated 1770-1776 or 1784-1795 by Myers are illustrated David L. Barquist, Myer Myers Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, 2001, pp. 186-187, figs. 88-90.