tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post5436198977673925929..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: “Silver Bowl, Belonged to Joshua Loring”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-30094761718659627582010-01-24T20:09:06.297-05:002010-01-24T20:09:06.297-05:00Thanks for the comments, Ed Stanley! I saw your na...Thanks for the comments, Ed Stanley! I saw your name in some of the pre-auction coverage, and appreciate the perspective. <br /><br />Here’s a question about the initials “B F” on the bowl. In the mid-1700s, did such engraved initials usually refer to the silverware’s owner (e.g., Benjamin Faneuil), or to the melding of two families (e.g., Bethune and Faneuil)?J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-72171685149261501102010-01-23T17:52:13.532-05:002010-01-23T17:52:13.532-05:00I am on the Board of the historic Loring-Greenough...I am on the Board of the historic Loring-Greenough House and am also a fine art appraiser here in Boston. Over the last three weeks I was in much contact with a specialist at Sotheby's concerning the Loring Bowl. Also, I am in contact with Commodore Joshua Loring's direct descendant in England who consigned the piece.<br /><br />I have to commend you on your admirable research concerning the bowl and its provenance. I agree with you - the story that Joshua Loring, Jr., an implacable enemy in America during the Revolution, ventured back to Jamaica Plain to retrieve the silver bowl is highly implausible. Besides your theories, the bowl may simply have been retrieved from the well/property by an accomplice of Commodore Loring prior to the latter's evacuation from Boston in 1776. Alternatively, the bowl may have been retrieved from the well/property by a member of the Curtis family in Jamaica Plain. Commodore Loring's wife, Mary, was a member of the prominent Curtis clan, and likely there were still local/familial sympathies for the Lorings' plight, having fled their home in August of 1774 with only the most basic of possessions. <br /><br />As I said, I am in contact with the Loring descendant in the UK, and he was the source of the bowl's provenance that it was retrieved by Joshua Loring, Jr., from the Jamaica Plain property at the close of the Revolution. Apparently, this story is part of Loring family tradition, the only documentary evidence being the 19th century note attached to the bowl. <br /><br />One last note on the bowl's provenance is that there has been a long-standing story associated with the Loring-Greenough House that the Lorings did hide their valuable silver pieces somewhere on the property when they fled in 1774. They were, of course, fully expecting to return after British forces vanquished the rebellious colonists. Evidencing this is the fact that the Commodore walled in his large wine cellar in his home. It was so well concealed that it was only discovered 75 years later during house renovations! <br /><br />The selling price of the Loring Bowl was truly astonishing. I examined the piece during the auction preview and can say that it is a magnificently crafted piece, of relatively massive size, and is of extreme rarity - definitely a "one of a kind," very early piece. These factors combined, along with a few determined bidders, caused the price of the bowl to soar to the highest possible level.<br /><br />Thanks very much for your excellent blog!<br /><br />Edward Stanley<br />Edward M. Stanley Appraisal Services<br />Boston, Massachusetts<br />www.edwardmstanley.comUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01477133082577172300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-71085214167903413122010-01-23T14:07:10.624-05:002010-01-23T14:07:10.624-05:00Judith H. Dobrzynski at Real Clear Arts wonders wh...Judith H. Dobrzynski at <a href="http://www.artsjournal.com/realcleararts/2010/01/silver-record.html" rel="nofollow">Real Clear Arts</a> wonders why the bowl went for so much above the estimated price: “What did the buyers—two at the end, but six at the beginning—know, or believe, that Sotheby's experts didn't?”J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-91913169831218508052010-01-22T17:34:51.805-05:002010-01-22T17:34:51.805-05:00The bowl just sold for $5.9 million, seven times t...The bowl just sold for $5.9 million, seven times the estimated price.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-11290898347888079042010-01-16T21:51:00.915-05:002010-01-16T21:51:00.915-05:00A New York Times story about this bowl added anoth...A <i>New York Times</i> story about this bowl added another detail: Apparently in the 1740s a set of initials originally engraved on it was replaced with the letters “B F”.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.com