The Dalton Family American Silver Covered Tankard
Thomas Dane (1724-1796), Boston, circa 1757
The stepped domed top with urn-form finial and scrolled thumbpiece, on a tapered body with central bead, the scroll handle with oval lower terminal, the body engraved with the Dalton coat of arms and initial "D," on a molded foot, marked "T.DANE" within a cartouche twice below of the rim of the body, Height 8 1/4 inches, approximately 18 ounces.

Provenance: With George C. Gebelein, Boston, Massachusetts, 1933.

Literature: A silversmith whose work is scarcely found, Thomas Dane is discussed in Patricia Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, 1998, pp. 363-366. Kane details only a dozen or so pieces, and only one other known tankard.

The present lot is accompanied by a typed letter dated January 16, 1933, discussing the tankard and the maker Thomas Dane; and a small undated card with a handwritten note identifying the coat of arms as being that of the Dalton family. The same note places it in the possession of a Samuel Dalton, presumably before 1933.

C Property of a Massachusetts Collector

small dents to body, one mark obscured but mostly legible, other mark much clearer
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