Paul Revere silver hallmarks

About Paul Revere silver

Paul Revere Jr. was a Boston silversmith, engraver and metalworker. He learned the trade from his father, Apollos Rivoire, who had adopted the name Paul Revere. His father died in 1754, before the younger Revere was legally old enough to control the business. He took charge of the family shop in the mid-1750s, retaining its tools, customers and some of its marking punches.

The workshop made household and personal objects, from spoons and buckles to tankards, porringers and elaborate tea services. Apprentices and journeymen helped produce the silver. Engraving customers’ initials, arms and inscriptions, repairing objects and assessing silver were also parts of the business. The surviving daybooks record substantial production both before and after the American Revolution.

Revere’s silver changed with fashion, from Rococo forms to simpler Neoclassical designs. His son Paul Revere III also worked in the shop as the older Revere expanded into other industries. He opened a foundry in 1788 and a copper mill in Canton in 1801. His personal silver work diminished around 1800, although objects from the family workshop continued into the early nineteenth century.