Tapered cans with solid strap handles constitute a variation on this popular drinking vessel that is unique to New England. Certainly the most distinctive interpretations of this motif are those marked by Nathaniel Austin. In addition to their unusual strap handles, Austin’s cans are characterized by raised shell-shaped thumb grips and unique terminals that incorporate the pewterer’s name, N-AUSTIN, into the disk.

Technical notes: The strap handle exhibits distinctive construction techniques. These include the solid handle cast in place against the body, much as a porringer’s handle is produced and attached (see B.58.97).

Related examples: Hood 1965, pp. 14,16, no. 13; Watts 1968, p. 18, no. 6; Fairbanks 1974, p. 7, no. 11; Brandt 1976, pp. 16–17, no. 1; Mont-gomery 1978, pp. 107, 109, no. 6–5.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.