Ezekiel Burr

As a material from which coins are minted and beautiful works of art fashioned, silver possesses a dual identify in signifying success. Status, wealth, education, and elegance were readily conveyed in personal adornments and the silver amassed on the family sideboard, and because sterling was literally worth its weight, it could easily be converted to cash in hard times.

Ezekiel Burr partnered with his brother William to operate E. & W. Burr; a 1792 advertisement in the Providence Gazette states they “carry on the business of gold- and silversmiths in its various branches a few doors south of the Baptist Meeting House . . . where they have for sale; silver spoons of different kinds and sizes, gold necklaces and a variety of plated buckles.”