An interesting 18th century American silver Spectacles Case for a New York merchant.
An 18th century American silver unmarked Spectacles Case, engraved on one side with a coat-of-arms and on the other with ‘Henry Holland 1769.’
Henry Holland, born in Albany in 1704, was an alderman there in 1727 and Sheriff in 1746 before moving to New York where he was a merchant and privateer owner. He married, on the 14th December, 1728, Alida Beekman, (baptised 29th November, 1702), the daughter of Johannes Martense Beekman. Holland died in 1777.
‘The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record’ for 1876-78 [digitized online] refers to a round silver Snuffbox, closely matching this spectacles case, which was then in the possession of ‘Mrs. Adelaide (Evertsen) McKay, wife of Mr. Samuel Moore McKay, of Brooklyn’, and which had Holland’s coat-of-arms on the lid and was engraved underneath with ‘Henry Holland, 10th March, 177( 0 ? ) ‘.
[see: http://archive.org/stream/newyorkgenealog49newy/newyorkgenealog49newy_djvu.txt]
Description
Condition:
Reasonable with some scratching and bruising to the reverse – which is engraved with the owner’s name and date. The engraved arms, name, and date remain sharp. Not repaired in any way.
Length – 12.50 cm.; Width – 5.10 cm.; Depth – 1.40 cm.; Weight – 87.10 gms.
