American Silver Large Tankard, Ephraim Brasher, New York, Circa 1770

Peter and Elizabeth Schermerhorn
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, sold
Sotheby's New York, October 29, 2004, lot 708

Peter Schermerhorn (1749-1826) was the son of Johannes Schermerhorn and Sarah Cannon (the daughter of John and Marie Legrand Cannon, see lot 739).  In 1771 he married Elizabeth Bussing (b. 1752/53), daughter of Abraham Bussing and Elizabeth Mesier, and niece of Pieter Mesier.  They had at least six children, two of whom continued the family business.  Peter's brother Simon married Elizabeth's sister Jane in 1773.

Peter was commander and owner of vessels trading between New York and Charleston, S.C., and is styled Captain on his marriage certificate.  In 1776, before the British occupied New York, Peter moved with his family to Hyde Park, Dutchess County, and remained there until 1783.  On returning to New York, he established a business as a ship chandler, and was joined by his son Peter in 1802 and his son Abraham in 1808.  In 1793 Peter Schermerhorn, Sr. consolidated the Beekman Slip water lots, on which his son Peter Jr. built Schermerhorn Row in 1811 (now part of the South Street Seaport Museum).  Peter Sr.'s business and residence were at 71 and 73 Water Street in 1791, at 220 and 224 Water Street in 1794, and after 1799 at 243 Water Street and 68 Broadway respectively.  In 1796 he was elected a Director of the Bank of New York.

In 1795 Peter Schermerhorn purchased, with his brother Simon, 160 acres at Gowanus (Brooklyn) for a summer residence; given in 1816 to his son Abraham, part of this is now Greenwood Cemetery.  From 1806 onwards his summer residence was on the East River at 82nd Street, on land purchased from Thomas Marston.  He died in 1826 at his residence on Broadway.

Ephraim Brasher (baptised 1744-1810) married the sister of silversmith William Gilbert in 1766 and enlisted with him in the New York militia at the Revolution, part of which Brasher spent in Dutchess County.  He was a member of the Gold and Silversmiths Society in 1786, and in 1787 he minted for the State of New York the gold Brasher Doubloon, the first gold coin produced in the new United States.  In 1790 he sold silver to George Washington, who lived as President just a few doors down from his shop.

A similar tankard circa 1786 is in the Mrs. John Emerson Collection at Huntington, see  Spencer, Hope Judkins, American Silver 1700-1850, p. 99.