Initially this tumbler appears to be the mate to B.87.13. However, closer examination clearly reveals it to be the work of another craftsman. Differences include a substantially greater troy weight, the present tumbler approximately 50 percent heavier than the previous example. According to the donor, this tumbler was fashioned from Mexican silver coins paid by Mexican patients to Dr. John M. Haden while he was a U.S. Army assistant surgeon stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

Technical notes: See B.87.13. The family tradition that the tumbler was fashioned from Mexican silver coins is given further credence by quantitative energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (results on file at Bayou Bend). Traditionally, Mexican coins had a higher percentage of silver than American. The content of the unmarked tumbler exceeds 94 percent, approximately 5 percent more than the Krider-Wriggins & Warden example.

Related examples:  This is one of a pair; the mate remains in the donor's family.

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.