John Coney is considered the first New England silversmith to make both teapots and chocolate pots for the newly fashionable, imported beverages. His domed teapot, made about 1710 – 20 for the Mascarene family of Boston (MMA), is among the earliest of its kind. Along with Edward Webb, Peter Oliver, and Edward Winslow, Coney produced chocolate pots during the first fifteen years of the eighteenth century; Zachariah Brigden created two during the 1750s, for a total of eight known chocolate pots. This gourd-shaped example and another in the shape of a ginger jar made by Coney that is in the Museum’s collection are unique forms of this rare vessel.
The 1749 union of Elizabeth Edwards and William Downes Cheever brought together a quantity of silver that predated their marriage by more than twenty years. In addition to the chocolate pot, the heirlooms included a porringer by Coney, a chafing dish by Winslow, a child’s porringer by Thomas Savage, a cann by Nathaniel Morse, and a tankard possibly by Timothy Dwight.2
William Downes Cheever was a successful sugar refiner who had inherited a fortune and was well able to purchase silver of his choice. Yet it is more likely these older pieces were inherited from the Edwards side of the family. Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas Edwards (1701 – 1755) and hence part of the Edwards silversmithing dynasty. She was also the great-niece of John Noyes and the sister-in-law of Zachariah Brigden. Thus, the chocolate pot, along with these additional pieces of silver, may have been received as wedding gifts from her family.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.

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