Object Description
This flared silver cup has a border of repoussé scrolls and foliage on the lower bulb of the goblet and around the foot. The full inscription is written below. Partially assayed for maker John Edward Terrey and retailers Wordley & Co, Liverpool, 1830.
Provenance: Captain W. G. Hackstaff
By family descent to W. Scott Keith Jr. of Deerfield Massachusetts
Skinner Inc, Boston, 1997
Hyland Granby Antiques, Massachusetts
The Kelton Collection of Marine Art and Artefacts
The Liverpool Mercury on 5th November 1830, describes this ‘rich and handsomely chased piece of plate, manufactured by Mr Wordley, of Lord Street, and presented to Captain Hackstaff, of the New York packet-ship William Byrnes, by the passengers on board that ship on her recent voyage from New York. It bears the following inscription very beautifully engraved-“Presented to Captain W. G. Hackstaff, as a tribute of respect for his nautical skill, and esteem for his gentlemanly conduct during a voyage from New York to Liverpool. – Oct, 1830, – by Col. McCombe and A. Graham’”.
Captain William G. Hackstaff (1795-1869) had a long and illustrious career as a packet ship captain plying the Atlantic. Contemporary accounts record the William Byrnes making the crossing from New York to Liverpool in 18 days. Hackstaff was clearly very popular as a group of his passengers took out an advert in Gore’s Liverpool General Advisor in 1826 to thank him for the way they had been treated during their “boisterous passage”. By the time he retired, in 1851, he had made 54 successful return voyages between New York and Liverpool and three return voyages between New York and Le Havre. He was elected a member of the Marine Society of New York in 1826 and had the distinction of never having lost a ship in his entire career. Hackstaff lived first in New York, before moving to a large house known as Riverside in Middletown, Connecticut where he became a successful civic figure, serving as an alderman between 1860 and 1865.