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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Silver before sterling
 Liberty Browne
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| Author | Topic: Liberty Browne |
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Tad Hale Posts: 120 |
posted 02-03-2009 05:42 PM
  
I just came across a reference on Liberty Browne. It states that he was a black silversmith, who also made gold hilts for swords that were presented by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the War of 1812. He was in 2 partnerships, one with John Houlton in MD and the other with William Seal in Pa. He seems to be the senior partner in both partnerships and I don't recall finding a black silversmith in a partnership, let alone the senior partner. I found this reference in the "Directory of American Military Goods Dealers & Makers 1785-1915" by Bruce S. Bazelon and William F. McGuinn. Has anyone seen this reference to Liberty Browne before? It's also amazing with a name like Liberty that he was born on July 4th, 1776. IP: Logged |
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wev Moderator Posts: 4121 |
posted 02-03-2009 05:54 PM
How does it read exactly? I suspect they were trying to say he was a black- and silversmith. [This message has been edited by swarter (edited 02-03-2009).] IP: Logged |
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swarter Moderator Posts: 2920 |
posted 02-03-2009 06:02 PM
quote: I am inclined to agree - I have seen nothing to that effect, and he is a well documented person. [This message has been edited by swarter (edited 02-03-2009).] IP: Logged |
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Tad Hale Posts: 120 |
posted 02-03-2009 06:27 PM
This is the way it reads: Brown (Browne), Liberty, Phila. A black silversmith known to have made gold hilts for swords presented by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the War of 1812. Began as Brown & Houlton (John) in Baltimore about 1799. Brown was in Philadelphia by 1801. In 1810 the firm was Brown & Seal (William) thru 1811. Liberty Brown continued on his own thru at least 1813. (Louise Belden:Marks of American Silversmiths in the Inneson-Bissell Collection, p.81.) I looked in Belden and didn't see any black reference nor military sword hilts. Belden used Ensko III and Goldsborough's Maryland reference and there was nothing about him being black or military sword hilts in either. So I don't know where this reference came from that was printed in this book that I came across. I know I am skeptical about it as well. IP: Logged |
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swarter Moderator Posts: 2920 |
posted 02-03-2009 08:13 PM
Liberty Brown (Browne) is listed by Richard Brezdek (American Swords and Sword Makers) an having "made presentation swords for the War of 1812," but like so many of these collector's books, they copy from each other and never list sources (they also lack indices). Presumably these were silver-hilted swords. He also mentions without comment that Brown bought blades from [William] Rose, a prolific Philadelphia swordmaker (not a silversmith), so there must be documentation somewhere. There is no other information included except a list of partnerships. Brown is not mentioned in Peterson's The American Sword, nor Bazelon's Swords from Public Collections in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. [This message has been edited by swarter (edited 02-03-2009).] IP: Logged |
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Tad Hale Posts: 120 |
posted 02-03-2009 10:18 PM
Thanks Swarter, I have no idea where this info came from. It appears that the bibliography in this book comes from Army-Navy Journals, Army-Navy Registers, Sword books you mentioned and another sword book entitled "The American Eagle-Pommel Sword" by Mowbray. The book that I found this info in has a ton of info on silversmiths, clockmakers and watchmakers not published in the silver books we all use. Although I think the info on Liberty Browne is wrong, there is some good and useful info in this book. IP: Logged |
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