Silversmiths of Little Rest Kingston Rhode Island

We are starting to sell our personal collection of silver reference books and other antique reference books. Over the next few months, we will list a few hundred different books for sale.

This is a high-quality reprint of the original book, of which they only printed 150 copies in 1928. This reprinted copy (1992) was reprinted in a limited-edition run of only 250 copies by Joslin Hall Publishing. The reprint was printed on acid-free paper. This book is in excellent condition and was barely used by us.

The book measures 9 3/4" x 12". There is a dust jacket. This is number 18 of 250. There are 50 pages with 10 black and white illustrations.

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Some info from the cover: The village of Little Rest (now Kingston), Rhode Island, on the crest of Little Rest Hill, enjoyed a unique advantage over the other country towns of the colony of Rhode Island being not only the county seat of the extensive King's Country, but also because of its fortunate situation in the heart of those fertile grazing lands owned by the "Narragansett Planters."

It was, therefore, in this prosperous countryside that six silversmiths worked at various times between 1745 and the early part of the nineteenth century, and it is concerning their lives and their work that these notes are written. They suffered competition, doubtless, from the great silversmiths of Newport and Bostoin, for the "Planters" were often in these cities on business and on pleasure, and as a result they were not always successful in their trade, although one of their number, Samuel Casey, achieved a reputation far more than parochial.

The Silversmiths:

SAMUEL CASEY was a master silversmith; convicted of counterfeiting coins he was sentenced to hang. On the night of November 3rd, 1770, he was broken out of jail by a masked mob, and was seen for the last time riding hard in a westerly direction.

GIDEON CASEY was Samuel's brother and not nearly as colorful.

JOHN WAITE was an apprentice of Samuel Casey, captain of the local militia during the revolution, and provided the engraved decorations for the first Rhode Island paper money which was issued with the words "State" instead of "Colony" on it's face, in 1776.

WILLIAM WAITE was John's brother and a Baptist minister.

JOSEPH PERKINS was a silversmith, gunsmith and merchant who sat on the jury which finally convicted Samuel Casey of counterfeiting.

NATHANIEL HELME was a gifted silversmith who might have rivaled Samuel Casey in fame had he not died in 1789 at the age of 28.