Object Number 1965.1538 A, B

Object Name

Infusion pot (Inhaler)

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Robert Palethorp Jr. (Maker)
1797-1822
This creator was originally entered as Robert Palethorpe Jr. Robert Palethorp Jr bought out the contents of the Philadelphia pewterer Parks Boyd's shop after the latter's death on June 6, 1819 (Laughlin, vol.2, p.62). Robert Jr's father, Robert Palethorp Sr (an ink powder manufacturer), was neighbors with Parks Boyd, and Laughlin suggests that Robert Jr may have trained in Boyd's shop. Robert Jr married Abigail Kessler on June 24, 1819. Robert Palethorpe Jr took over his father's shop in 444 North Second Street, where he was working by 1817. Later, Robert and his brother, J.H. (John Harrison) Palethorp, had a business at 50 North Second Street, Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1825 or so. When Robert Jr died in 1822, his father, Robert Sr, took over the company with J.H. and they marketed themselves as "Ink Powder and Pewter Manufacturers". J.H. continued in the pewter industry until his death in 1845. For more on Robert Palethorp Jr's marks, see C. Jordan Thorn, Handbook of American Silver and Pewter Marks, 1949, section 2, p.272; Carl Jacobs, Guide to American Pewter, 1957, p.144; Ebert, Collecting American Pewter (1973), p.139; and Montgomery, History of American Pewter (1973), p.225. See also Laughlin, Pewter in America, vol.3, p.220 and J.B. Kerfoot, American Pewter, 1942, p.177-118, 170.

Place of Origin

Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1817-1822

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Interior base; "PALETHORP J / PHILADA" stamped in a conforming rectangle with a scalloped edge, partially effaced.

Subjects

Medical

Materials

Pewter

Techniques

Cast

Dimensions (inches)

5.118 (H) , 5.37 (W) , 4.016 (Diam)

Dimensions (centimeters)

13 (H) , 13.65 (W) , 10.2 (Diam)

Object Description

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