Copper teakettle with round body, gooseneck spout, very low domed lid w/ scrolled knob of sheet copper riveted onto lid with a hand-cut washer added under lid, suggesting repair or replacement. Curved handle hinges onto tapered plinth tab bases with two rivets each. Vertical dove-tailed side seam opposite single-seamed spout. Dove-tailed bottom.
Touchmark on top of handle is "R..REED." within a rectangular reserve with serrated ends.
Made by Robert Reed, working in Lancaster 1771-1779, then 1785-1795.
Provenance
Purchased by Heritage Center from Philip Bradley Antiques
Transferred from Heritage Center to LancasterHistory.org December, 2012.
Tax assessment lists Robert Reed 1786-1793.
Kauffman, Henry J. American Copper and Brass. New York: Bonanza, 1979.
Coppersmith info from Shelley Horvath Posten (dau. of Don Horvath), 2009
Copper dented and scratched overall, polish residue at handle hinges. Side handle break repaired with sheet iron patch secured to outside with two iron rivets. Knob appears to be a repair or a replacement.
Object ID
P.80.131
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Heritage Center Collection. Purchased through the generosity of the James Hale Steinman Foundation,
Round copper vessel, shaped like a teakettle, but without a spout. A shaped strap handle is attached to each side of the opening at shoulder with riveted brackets. The handle widens near the middle, where the maker's mark is stamped: "P & B. SCHAUM"
Body is dovetailed to base, one dovetailed vertical seam, handle attached to flanges held in place by two rivets each. Pot insert is missing. Another insert (S.13) was purchased as a replacement.
Vessel has multiple dents, creating a general distortion overall. Surface is also tarnished and has drip stains running down the sides. The bottom is very worn and has numerous stains. Blueish-white stains on the inside. Polish residue on handle.
Object ID
P.77.61
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Related Item Notes
See broadside for Benjamin Schaum's hardware store, P.91.02
Credit
Heritage Center Collection. Purchased through the generosity of the James Hale Steinman Foundation
Large copper teakettle with rounded body, goose-neck spout and hinged handle having a medium arc, mounted on shaped flanges with three rivets. The domed lid has a small brass mushroom knob (replaced). Dovetailed seams on bottom and vertical seam on side opposite spout. Seamed repair to spout tip.
"F. STEINMAN" is stamped on the handle within a reserve.
Provenance
Transferred from Heritage Center Collection, Dec. 2012
Jack Brubaker, The Steinmans of Lancaster, pp. 11-15.
HJ Kauffman, Early American Copper, Tin & Brass, 1995, pp. 42-43.
HJ Kauffman, American Copper & Brass, 1979, p. 65.
Height (in)
13
Width (in)
16
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2013-11-13
Condition Notes
Many dents and overall wear. HJK says handle slightly shortened (likely done by him). Tip of spout replaced. Plugged hole in bottom. Replaced knob. Stamped name very worn. Tarnished with polish residue where the spout, handle, and lid meet the main body.
Object ID
G.77.14
Notes
When his father died in 1758, John Frederick Steinman, Sr. (1752-1823) moved with his mother to Lititz from his birthplace, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His mother remarried a few years later to John Christophe Heyne, a tinsmith and pewterer from Lancaster. The shop of Heyne and Steinman would become known as Steinman's Hardware Store, the oldest hardware store in America.
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Heritage Center Collection. Gift of Henry J. Kauffman
Compass housed in a round, turned brass case with fitted lid. Scored circles decorate exterior. Inside case bottom is paper printed with decoration and cardinal points. Blued needle has gold-stenciled "N" on one end. Flat glass window on top held with brass retaining ring. Lid screws onto case bottom.
Handwritten note states compass brought to America from Nuremburg, Germany by immigrant ancestor John Leonard Ellmaker(1697-1782) in 1726.
Unknown German maker
Provenance
Descent within Ellmaker family to donor, then donated to the Heritage Center.
Strainer of glazed redware, but with a lighter brown color than most redware. Resting on three tapered 1-1/8 " long feet. The flat-bottomed dish has straight sides that flare out to a molded, high lip. Applied handles at sides. Large holes in bottom and three rows of smaller holes at sides.
Lead glaze overall with some streaks/runs of a darker brown.
Numerous chips on body overall; some large ones on underside and a large chip on the side; handle edges have suffered the most significant chipping loss. Glaze is crackled overall and has some staining, particularly on the interior. Feet are moderately worn.
Object ID
G.98.12.17
Place of Origin
Pennsylvania
Credit
Gift of Mrs. S.R. Slaymaker II, Heritage Center Collection
Saltcellar of Stiegel-type clear glass, blown into a 3-piece mold. Body is an inverted pear form on a pedestal base. Upper body decorated with 25 slightly slanted vertical ribs. Bottom is slightly concave with pontil mark at center.
Provenance
Donor bought cellar for $70.00 at Horst Auction on 10-19-96, from the collection of Edward Miller.
Small free-blown wine or dram glass, Stiegel type. Conical form. Low profile knop on stem. Round pedestal base with concentric ring created by folded foot. Pontil mark on bottom.
Provenance
Purchased by donor Hampton C. Randolph, Sr., for $65 at the sale of the Henry E. Balmer estate, Lancaster, PA on April 20, 1996, then donated to the Heritage Center of Lancaster County.
Clear, free-blown leaded glass mug, near barrel shape. Stiegel-type glass has bubbles and other imperfections throughout. Applied threading at rim; ribbed loop handle; engraved design on side is a bird with floral and foliate designs. Pontil mark on bottom has been smoothed around edges with grinding wheel.
Similar to #5, plate 35 in "American Glass" by George and Helen McKearin.
Provenance
Descent within the Nichols family of Lancaster Co. Family history states mug was always kept in a decorated dower chest, dated 1808.
Clear mold-blown Stiegel-type glass mug in cylindrical form. Bottom quarter has 14 fluted ribs that carry through to the bottom and converge on the pontil mark. Rim edged with gold. Side has multicolored fruit and floral paint decoration with a central orange oval cartouche outlined in gold with gold cursive lettering: "Remember me." Applied handle.
Provenance
Descent to Sarah Muench from family, likely her Aunt Alice Potter Fordney, an antiques dealer.
Bonnet-top high chest, walnut w/ yellow pine and poplar secondary wood. Pegged frame and panel construction. A bonnet top broken arch pediment surrounds the tympanum with a central round, concave shell carving. Large orb finial on plinth centered within broken arch. Upper section has five graduated drawer sections consisting of three small drawers over two drawers over three long single drawers, all cock-beaded with bail brasses and escutcheons. Pulls not original; ghosting visible of original brasses. Quarter columns have wide chamfers with double fluting.
Upper chest rests on stepped-out lower chest having one long drawer flanked by two small ones and two more small drawers below these. Cutout apron at bottom. Very wide chamfered & fluted quarter columns. Cabriole legs with trifid feet and stocking detail.
Make is unknown.
Lancaster County, probably Churchtown area
Provenance
Chest originally belonged to the Old family, prominent ironmasters of Lancaster and Berks Co. It may have been owned first by James Old (1730-1809) or one of his children. The chest later passed from Miss Harriet Old to the Hopkins family at Conowingo Furnace, Drumore Twp., Lancaster County.
Overall abrasions, scars and small losses of wood. 4" crack in pediment, left of finial. Significant grouping of gashes 4"x 3" spanning 2nd & 3rd level drawers, at left. Entire front of top chest detaching from sides. Piece at top of left stile, under cornice, is broken & poorly repaired. Deep horizontal 7" crack on left side of base unit. Vertical crack entire length of right side of top. 1 12" long gouge on stile of right front leg. White flecks on right front leg. Brasses tarnished with some rust.
Object ID
P.78.76
Notes
Exhibit label information:
John J. Snyder, Jr. suggests many points of similarity with a Q.A Phila. highboy owned by diarist Christopher Marshall who brought chest along with him when he moved to Lancaster Co. "on the eve of the Revolutionary War." (Winterthur collections). This chest may have inspired the design of the Old chest.
Wide fluted chamfered corners similar to a Q.A. secretary (G.03.1.1) formerly owned by the Jenkins family of Churchtown. Similar to a case of Geo. Hoff clock w/ brass face, and similar to casework by some Phila. and Maryland cabinetmakers.
Snyder notes that cockbeaded edges on drawers suggest a later date than expected (c. 1770-1790). This type in Phila. was being made c. 1740-1760.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Usage
Old family
Credit
Gift of James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
