Object Number 1956.0059.011

Object Name

Plate

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Joseph France

Creator (Role)

Townsend & Giffen (Maker)
1770-1778
John Townsend was part of the company Townsend & Giffen and then Townsend & Compton, as well as other partnerships, which seem to have run simultaneously. The dates of these companies have been debated in scholarship. In Pewter of Great Britain from 1983, Christopher A. Peal lists the dates as follows: Townsend & Giffen 1777-1801 Townsend & Compton 1801-1811. However, in his article "John Townsend and Thomas Compton: An Update" from 2004, Peter Hayward offers these dates: Townsend & Giffen 1770-1778 Townsend & Compton 1784-1802. The confusion is partly due to the fact that until recently (around 2004), scholars did not realize that there were two Thomas Comptons, which affects how the dates of each business are understood. According to Hayward, the records should read thusly: Thomas Compton I was born in 1749, began his apprenticeship in 1763 with John Townsend, and married that man's daughter and became a partner in the company in 1775. Thomas Compton II, probably Thomas Compton I's eldest son, was born c.1776 and began his apprenticeship in 1791. It appears that Thomas I's second son, Townsend Compton, continued the name in the business after the deaths of Thomas I and Thomas II in around 1817 (p.24). For an example of Townsend's and Giffen's marks, see Radway Jackson, English Pewter Touchmarks (1970), p.52 and p.100. See Peter Hayward, "John Townsend and Thomas Compton: An Update" from Journal of the Pewter Society (Spring 2004), p.21-28 and Christopher Peal, Pewter of Great Britain, 1983, p.52, 55 and 177. John Townsend's maker's mark served as a model for marks by William Will of Philadelphia and Richard Austin of Boston (Laughlin, Pewter in America, vol 2, p.133).

Place of Origin

London, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Date

1793-1801

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Underside of base; "TOW[ ]ND" below a horse, within an oval, stamped
2. Mark; Underside of base; "&" in shaped cartouche, stamped
3. Mark; Underside of base; "THOMAS" above and "GIFFIN" below with a crowned heart at center, stamped
4. Mark; Underside of base; "FEN CHURCH/ STREET. LONDON" in foliate rectangle, stamped

Materials

Pewter

Techniques

Cast

Dimensions (inches)

0.5 (H) , 7.685 (Diam)

Dimensions (centimeters)

1.27 (H) , 19.52 (Diam)

Object Description

Text available soon.