Expert: Martin G Roberts - 8/8/2007

Question
Hi Mark,  Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and for sharing your expertise.  I have a large (15in) pewter charger that I got at my church Christmas bazaar in Boston, MA many years ago.  (It's an Episcopal church and the charger was donated by a member - on English ancestry I would assume.)  I have done some research and the marks on the back of it are those of Robert Jupe, who became a Yeoman in 1697 and a Master in 1737 (the same year he died).  Found all this in a Marks reference in the library.  The last line says in the reference says "Touch, 62I L.T.P., which he had leave to strike on 14 Dec. 1704."  There is a date on the back of the charger but it is obscured.  Also, on the front in the rim are the initials L C.  
It also has a large repair in the plate (maybe 3in x 1.5 in).  I have no idea when the repair was made.  No one wanted to buy it because of the repair.  So the person manning the booth, a family friend, made up a story that it was used as a shield in during the American Revolution and a British musket ball made the hole!  Of course, people didn't throw away things as easily as we do now, so it was repaired (the story of the musket ball notwithstanding).  I can send digital pictures if that would help.

Thank you so much for any information you might provide.  I am thoroughly enjoying finding out the stories behind the things I have.

Patricia Sullivan

Answer
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No more to say really. Jupe was made free of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers of London in 1704 ("leave to strike" his touch), as were most pewterers working in London, and served as Master of the Company in 1737. LTP = London touchplate, the sheets of metal on which London maker's marks were recorded. 621 is just the index number on the touchplate.

15" is not particularly large for the period. We would call pieces of 12-18" diameter 'dishes'.

Sounds like a completely ordinary dish of very common type, used in most households of all degrees of affluence in the 18th century. LC will be the initials of an owner. In the condition you describe it is virtually worthless, so just enjoy it as an object.

Making up stories to encourage sales is fundamentally dishonest! Unless you have some firm provenance, there is no reason to believe this piece arrived in North America anytime before the 20th Century, when vast numbers of 'ordinary' bits of British pewter were exported by the antiques trade.

Martin
www.antique-metalware.co.uk