John Hull and Robert Sanderson, Sr., are the earliest American silversmiths whose work is known. Hull records in his diary that the formation of their partnership was prompted by the institution of a mint by the Massachusetts General Court for the purpose of offsetting the prevalence of counterfeit coins. Hull was appointed mint master and chose Robert Sanderson, Sr., to be his partner. Besides directing the mint, Hull and Sanderson produced a wide range of silver forms and trained a number of apprentices. Their partnership firmly established the silversmith’s craft in Boston and, in turn, throughout much of New England.

Related examples: Fales 1970, p. 218, no. 186; Naeve 1978, p. 2, no. 2; Ward and Ward 1979, p. 58, no. 15d; Fairbanks and Trent 1982, pp. 492–93, no. 460; Safford 1983, p. 4, no. 3; Johnston 1994, p. 76; Quimby 1995, p. 121, no. 78b.

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.