Teaspoon 1792

This is a silver teaspoon, around five and a half inches long, made by Paul Revere, silversmith and patriot, in the late 18th century. Revere lived through the tensions that led to the American Revolution, participating in the Boston Tea Party and famously riding to warn the militia that the British were coming. But before his legendary ride, Revere was a craftsman, inheriting his father’s silversmith shop. Though he created commemorative pieces, much of his work was domestic, like this teaspoon. Silver objects signified wealth and status in colonial society; owning them distinguished the haves from the have-nots. Consider this spoon: who would have used it? What did it mean to them? What does it mean to us now to see an object like this, knowing the complex history of inequality and revolution it represents?