Circa 1804-1815, in the Neoclassical taste, twice struck "Johnson&Reat" in a conforming touchmark to recto and verso edges of square foot, the urn form body with shaped cartouche featuring a pricked swag border and period engraved "M" monogram for the Massie family, with removable cover, carved wood handle.

11 1/2 in.

23.885 troy oz.

Private Collection, Virginia

Dr. Thomas Massie, Blue Rock, Nelson County, Virginia
By descent through the Massie family


Reuben Johnson & James Reat began their partnership in Richmond, Virginia when both men were around the age of twenty-two. Over the next ten years, they built a successful business, counting two US presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Tyler, among their customers.

Dr. Thomas Massie was born to Major Thomas Massie, a distinguished officer in the Revolutionay War. Dr. Massie apprenticed as a young man to Dr. James D. McCaw, a prominent Richmond physician. Massie earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1803, after which he continued his studies in Edinburgh, London and Paris. In 1807, he returned to the and began practicing medicine in Chillicothe, Ohio. Massie eventually returned to Virginia and settled in Nelson County.

This coffee pot was on loan to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond from 1966 until it was returned to the family in 2007. Catherine Hollan references this pot in the entry on Johnson & Reat in her seminal book, VIrginia Silversmiths, Jewelers, Clock- and Watchmakers, 1607-1860, Their Lives and Marks, on page 411.

Base with wobble; handle loose, pins present; shallow nick to base of foot; several shallow scattered dents to body; finial of cover slightly askew.