Salver

Also known as a "waiter," small-size silver trays were used to serve, with some flair, anything from a folded letter to a glass of wine. This salver stands firm on three claw and ball feet and was produced late in the career of one of Philadelphia's most noted silversmiths, Joseph Richardson, Sr. An heirloom of one of the city's oldest families, the engraved presentation on its bottom records the salver's entry into the Coates family. It was a wedding gift from Sarah Morris (1704-1775), a Quaker minister, to Samuel Coates (1748-1830) and Lydia Saunders (d.1789), a Quaker couple married on January 12, 1775.

Samuel Coates was a merchant and philanthropist who served as a Director of the original Bank of the United States, Treasurer of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and an Overseer of the Public Schools of Philadelphia. He also helped lead the Pennsylvania Hospital from the mid-1780s through the mid-1820s. This silver salver left the Coates family in 1992.
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