The provenance of this coffee pot can be traced by family tradition to Juliana Catherine Mayer (born 1806, the daughter of Lancaster merchant Christopher Bartholomew Mayer and his wife Susannah Burkhart Mayer) who married George May Keim (1805 - 1861) of Reading in 1827. The die-rolled grape border around the shoulder is a technological innovation that allowed elaborate stamped ornamental bands to be applied to the body. A number of similar pieces of silver made in the large Philadelphia shop of Samuel Williamson are known. His output was prodigious and it was common practice to wholesale his wares to be sold by silversmiths such as Mannerback in other cities. The coffee pot is marked: “W. Mannerback” and “Reading”. It was probably part of a larger set which would have included a teapot, slop bowl, sugar dish, and cream pot.
