Paul Revere may never have uttered the words “The British are coming.” Still he is probably better known for his warning to the American militia than for the silver works that brought him prominence in his day — and that are much sought after by contemporary collectors. Such a piece, an armorial coffee pot that is one of only six made before the Revolutionary War, is being offered by M.S. Rau on 1stDibs. The foot-tall vessel was made around 1775, the year of Revere’s legendary ride.
The pot was created for Dr. Micajah Sawyer, a Newburyport physician, whose initials are engraved on the body. According to a Washington Post interview with M.S. Rau owner Bill Rau, Revere “was the only person in all of the Americas that could take a piece of silver from a silver ingot and make it into a finished product.” The coffee pot thus has historical significance by virtue both of Revere’s position in American craft and his role in the Revolutionary War.
The pot was in the Sawyer family until 1980, when it was sold to a private collector. It was displayed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts until 2014. Three others are in private hands, and the Worcester Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, hold one each.
