alian (_capodimonte_) pot of the eighteenth century; German pots of
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; a Vienna coffee pot of the
eighteenth century; a French (_La Seine_) coffee pot of 1774-1793, a
Sevres pot of 1792-1804; and a Spanish eighteenth-century coffee pot
decorated in copper luster.

At the Metropolitan may be seen also Hatfield and Sheffield-plate pots
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and many examples of silver
tea and coffee service and coffee pots by American silversmiths.

[Illustration: SILVER COFFEE POTS, LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Left, 1776-77. Right, 1773-4.]

Silver tea pots and coffee pots were few in America before the middle of
the eighteenth century. Early coffee-pot examples were tapering and
cylindrical in form, and later matched the tea pots with swelling drums,
molded bases, decorated spouts, and molded lids with finials.

From notes by R.T. Haines Halsey and John H. Buck, collected by Florence
N. Levy and woven into an introduction to the Metropolitan Museum's art
exhibition catalog for the Hudson-Fulton celebration of 1909, we learn
that:

The first silver made in New England was probably fashioned by
English or Scotch emigrants who had served their time abroad. They
were followed by craftsmen who were either born here, or, like John
Hull, arriving at an early age, learned their trade on this side.

In England it was required that every master goldsmith should have
his mark and set it upon his work after it was assayed and marked
with the king's mark (hall-mark) testifying to the fineness of the
metal.

[Illustration: Sino-Lowestoft, Eighteenth To Nineteenth Centuries]

[Illustration: ITALIAN CAPODIMONTE, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY]

[Illustration: LA SEINE, 1774

SEVRES, 1792

GERMAN POTS, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY]

[Illustration: PORCELAIN POTS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK]

The Colonial silversmiths marked their wares with their initials,
with or without emblems, placed in shields, circles, etc., without
any guide as to place of manufacture or date. After about 1725 it
was the custom to use the surname, with or without an initial, and
sometimes the full name. Since the establishment of the United
States the name of the town was often added and also the letters D
or C in a circle, probably meaning dollar or coin, showing the
standard or coin from which the wares were made.

In the