Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Pennsylvania, who is regarded as a Founding Father of the United States for his roles during and after the American Revolution. Mifflin signed the United States Constitution, was the first governor of Pennsylvania, serving from 1790 to 1799, and was also the state's last president, succeeding Benjamin Franklin in 1788.
A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms silversmith and goldsmith are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are largely the same but differed in that the end product may vary greatly.
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician, and naturalist.
Samuel Selden Miles was an American military officer and politician, as well as a wealthy and influential businessman, active in Pennsylvania before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War.
Philip Syng was, like his namesake father, Philip Syng, Sr. (1676–1739), a renowned silversmith who created fine works in silver and sometimes gold for the wealthy families of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1752 he created the Syng inkstand, which was used to sign the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in 1787.
Edward Savage was an American portrait painter and engraver.
Joseph Wright was an American portrait painter and sculptor. He painted life portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and was a designer of early U.S. coinage. Wright was President Washington's original choice for Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, but died at age 37, before being confirmed to that position.
Daniel Dupuy, Sr., was an American silversmith who was active from 1745 to 1805 in Philadelphia. He was born as the fourth child of Dr. John and Anne (Chardavoine) Dupuy, Huguenots, in New York City, and apprenticed in 1740 to his brother-in-law, Peter David, in Philadelphia. He married Eleanor Cox on September 6, 1746, in Philadelphia, and with her had six children, including silversmith Daniel Dupuy, Jr. Dupuy's works are collected in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American History, Winterthur, the Yale University Museum, and elsewhere.
Joseph Edwards Jr. was an American silversmith, active in Boston.
Thomas Charles Fletcher was a prominent American silversmith and merchant, active in Boston and Philadelphia. His firm of Fletcher & Gardiner was nationally renowned.
Sidney Gardiner was an American silversmith and merchant, active in Boston and Philadelphia. His firm of Fletcher & Gardiner was nationally renowned.
Benjamin Halsted, also spelled Benjamin Halstead, was an American silversmith active in New York City, Philadelphia, and Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1794 he founded the first thimble factory in the United States.
Peter Lewis Krider, also known as P.L. Krider, was a noted American silversmith, active in Philadelphia.
John McMullin was an American silversmith, active in Philadelphia.
Joseph Richardson, Jr., was a noted American silversmith, active in Philadelphia.
Nathaniel Richardson was an American silversmith, active in Philadelphia.
Samuel Edwards was an American silversmith, active in Boston.
John Christian Wiltberger Sr. was an American silversmith, active in Philadelphia.
Jacob Hurd was a leading American silversmith, active in Boston, and father to silversmiths Nathaniel Hurd (1729-1777) and Benjamin Hurd (1739-1781), as well as grandfather to Benjamin Hurd Jr. (1778-1818).
Martha Lou Gandy Fales was an American art historian, museum curator, and author specializing in historic American silversmithing and jewelry. She worked as a curator and keeper of the silver at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library during the late 1950s and worked mostly as an independent historian and consultant after that. Her seminal book Jewelry in America (1995) received the Charles F. Montgomery Prize from the Decorative Arts Society.
