A Rare Pair of American Silver Wine Cups, Paul Revere Jr., Boston, 1792

Moses Michael Hays and Rachel Myers Hays, by family descent until acquired by

Mark Bortman (1896-1967), Boston;

Bortman-Larus Americana Foundation

Eric Martin Wunsch (1924-2013), New York, by private sale to

Roy J. Zuckerberg

Jane Bortman, "Moses Hays and his Revere silver", Magazine Antiques, October 1954, pp. 304-305

Buhler, 1960, no. 107

Patricia E. Kane, Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, p. 845

Jeannine Falino and Gerald W. R. Ward, New England Silver & Silversmithing 1620-1815, p. 170

Jeanne Sloane, Artistry and Enterprise: American Silver 1660-1790 - Survey of American Colonial silver held in the collection of Roy J. Zuckerberg, New York, Smallwood & Stewart, 2018, no. 48, p. 98-101

Moses Michael Hays was born in New York on May 9, 1739 to Dutch immigrant parents Judah Hays and Rebecca Michael Hays. Judah, a merchant, introduced his son to the family retail and shipping business at a young age, and upon his death in 1764 left the business and the majority of his assets to Moses, who was then twenty-five years old. Two years later in 1766, Moses married Rachel Myers (1738-1810), sister of acclaimed New York silversmith Myer Myers. Moses and Rachel were deeply grounded in their Jewish faith and were committed to numerous civic and charitable causes throughout their lives. In New York, they were members of the Congregation Shearith Israel, where Moses served as vice president in 1766 and as president the following year (see the website for the American Jewish Historical Society).   Additionally Moses and his brother-in-law Myer Myers were members of King David's Lodge, the first exclusively Jewish Masonic lodge in America established on February 17, 1769. Hays, who was elected the Master of the Lodge, is named in the organization's founding warrant as "our Worshipful and well beloved Brother;" Myers served under him as Senior Warden (David Barquist, Myer Myers Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York, Yale University Press (New Haven and London: 2001), p. 47).

In 1769 the Hays family relocated to Newport, RI, where Moses resumed his shipping business. The shipping industry in Newport was not as profitable as it had been in New York, and Moses briefly found himself in debtor's prison in 1771. Upon liquidating his assets, Hays was freed and immediately set out to reestablish his company (AJHS). During their time in Newport the Hays family were members of the renowned Congregation Yeshuat Israel, now known as the Touro Synagogue, established in 1763. The Rev. Isaac Touro, who married Moses' sister Reyna Hays in 1773, served as the Congregation's hazan, and designed the synagogue based on the great synagogues in Amsterdam (see www.eyesofglory.com). A pair of silver Torah finials made by Myer Myers circa 1784-95, and later engraved "Hays & Myers" are in the collection of the Touro Synagogue. Although it is presumed that the finials were originally commissioned by Moses and Rachel Hays, the inscription is thought to refer to the 1796 marriage of Moses and Rachel's daughter Judith to her first cousin Samuel Myers, son of Myer Myers. The finials were donated to the Synagogue in 1842 by Samuel and Judith's granddaughter (Barquist, p. 198-200). 

In 1775, as political tensions escalated in New England, Hays was among seventy-six men in Newport asked to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Colonies. Hays refused to sign the declaration as it included the phrase "upon the true faith of a Christian" and instead submitted a letter confirming his belief in the Colonies' right to take action against the Crown. After great discussion and negotiation the phrase was omitted and Hays consented to sign the declaration (AJHS).

In 1776 the Hays family left Newport for Boston in advance of the British occupation, and Moses reestablished his shipping business yet again, this time expanding to include the underwriting of shipbuilding, trade and insurance to the Far East. In 1784 Hays founded The Massachusetts Bank -- operating today as Bank of America -- of which he was the first depositor (see the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center at the Touro Synagogue, Newport, RI, www.loeb-tourovisitorscenter.org).

Moses Hays was connected to famed silversmith and patriot Paul Revere Jr. through Freemasonry, as both were members of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. At the time Hays was accepted into the Massachusetts Lodge in November 1782, he was the only Jewish member. He was elected the Lodge's Grand Master in 1788, with Paul Revere serving as his Deputy, and again in 1792. Revere himself does not become Grand Master until 1795 (Falino 2001: p. 169-170). A portrait of Hays once hung in the Corinthian Hall of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. Later, Hays, Revere and fourteen other Boston businessmen established the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company (Bortman1954: p. 305).

Moses Hays was not only a friend and business partner of Revere, he was also an exceptional patron. Revere's only known Jewish patron, Hays is known to have commissioned twenty-five orders from Revere between 1783-92, including three teapots (one at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art), two teapot stands, four sauce boats (sold Sotheby's New York, October 17, 1972, lot 117, and March 28, 1973, lots 32 and 161), a bowl, a sugar bowl, a milk pot, gold knee buckles, a sword hilt, a ladle and numerous spoons (Falino 2001: p. 170).  Two serving spoons of 1786 were sold Sotheby’s, New York, 20 January 2012, lot 100, for $104,500. A teapot and a milk jug were sold Christie’s, New York, 22 January 2015, lots 73 and 74, for $233,000 and $68,750.

The entry for the wine cups, from Revere's ledger composed in his own hand and dated March 12, 1792, lists the present lot as:

"Mr. M. M. Hays To 4 Silver goblets weight 21oz -7/ 7 7-

To the making @ 24/ 4 16-

To Engraving Cyphers 1/6 6"

The other two cups from the original set of four were sold from the Hascoe collection, Sotheby’s, New York, 23 January 2011, lot 122, for $752,500. All four cups are illustrated and discussed in an article by Jane Bortman, "Moses Hays and his Revere silver," Magazine Antiques, pp. 304-305. The extensive amount of plate commissioned from Revere places Hays among Revere's top patrons, including the Orne family, the Sargent family, the Denley family and Dr. William Paine (Falino 2001: pp. 174-175).

In Boston the Hays family settled into a large fifteen-room brick house on Middle Street (now Hanover Street) near Revere's home in the North End.  About this time, the couple sat for a pair of portraits attributed to Gilbert Stuart (see images). In his memoir published in 1873, the Rev. Samuel Joseph May recounts his relationship with the Hays family as a child:

"Moses Michae Hays [was] a man much respected, not only on account of his large wealth, but for his many personal virtues and the high culture and great excellence of his wife and son Judah, and his daughters- especially Catherine and Slowey. His house, far down on Hanover Street, then one of the fashionable streets of the town, was the abode of hospitality; and his family moved in what were then the first circles of society. He and his truly good wife were hospitable, not to the rich alone, but also to the poor (Bortman 1954: p. 305).

As Boston lacked a synagogue, the Hays family conducted religious services in their home. The absence of a local synagogue is likely the reason why the family continued to donate to the synagogue in Newport for many years after they had moved away (Bortman 1954: pp. 304-305). In addition to a fine library of Hebrew texts, the Hays family is also suspected to have been owners of a Torah, likely used with the Torah finials now at the Touro Synagogue. Private ownership of Torahs and Torah finials in late 18th century America was extremely rare as the hand-written texts and their silver ornaments were prohibitively expensive (Barquist 2001: pp. 199-200). As observant Jews, the Hays family would have conduced Shabbat services in their home, and likely used the present lot as Kiddush cups. The number of four cups is unusual; at this time, silver goblets were usually made in pairs, as is seen for many English examples of the period. As Jeanne Sloane notes, though, there were four adult Jewish males in the Hays household: Moses Hays himself, his son Judah, and his adopted nephews Abraham and Judah Touro. This is likely the reason for the order for four cups, and reinforces the idea that they were used – as the most precious goblets in the house – for kiddush on the Sabbath.

When Moses Hays died on May 9, 1805, his obituary in the secular press described him as "a most valuable citizen...now secure in the bosom of his Father and our Father, of his God and our God" (AJHS). He is buried in the Colonial Jewish Burial Ground of Newport.