The Fales collection of jewelry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Magazine Antiques, April, 2002 by Janet Zapata, Beth Carver Wees

(16.) John H. Most and Charles Burger created a cradle for the birth of the first son of the inventor Samuel Colt (1814-1862), which is illustrated ibid, p. 134.

(17.) See ibid, pp. 136, 152, which credits William S. Tarbell of New York City as the designer of this jewelry, which was displayed in the exhibition Charter Oak: Seed of Liberty, held at the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford from March 15 to August 31, 1984.

(18.) Andrew Jackson made this controversial statement during a toast at a dinner honoring Thomas Jefferson at the Indian Queen Hotel in Washington, D.C., on April 13, 1830.

(19.) Perhaps the most noted jeweler who created designs with naturalistic motifs is Louis Comfort Tiffany, who made jewelry with intricate vines and leaves to simulate grape clusters. For more information and examples. see Janet Zapata, The Jewelry and Enamels of Lauis Comfort Tiffany (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1993), pp. 134, PL 55,65,67-70.

JANET ZAPATA is an independent scholar and museum consultant, specializing in jewelry and silver.

BETH CARVER WEES is an associate curator of American decorative arts at the Metropolitan Musem of Art in New York City.