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These objects may have been stored in dowry furniture, like chests or dressers.

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Six teaspoons marked "E O."

Nathaniel Coleman, Maker
Burlington, New Jersey
ca. 1787 – 1836
Silver

These teaspoons and similar kitchen utensils were often collected by a future bride well before her marriage. This set belonged to a woman from Burlington County, New Jersey.

Courtesy of Burlington County Historical Society

Embroidered Pillowcase

Elizabeth Forman, Maker
1796
Linen

Women’s hand-embroidered textiles, like this pillowcase, may have been stored in a piece of dower furniture. This pillowcase belonged to Elizabeth Forman of New Jersey. It is embroidered with her name and date.

Courtesy of Haddonfield Historical Society

Salver

Myer Myers, Maker
Probably New York City
1770-1772
Silver

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia

Salver (Back)

Myer Myers, Maker
Probably New York City
1770-1772
Silver

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia

Salver (Detail)

Myer Myers, Maker
Probably New York City
1770-1772
Silver

This valuable piece of silver was a gift from a Dutch woman in 1770s New York or New Jersey. It is inscribed “Liefde Gift Van de longvrous Anna Maria Hultin Von Beferhoudt” (loving gift from Jankrouw Maria Hultin Von Beverhoudt). The underside is maker-stamped by Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith who worked in colonial New York and later in revolutionary Connecticut. The Dutch community of New Jersey had a greater tradition of legal property and business ownership by women than the English.

The Rosenbach, Philadelphia