Silver teapot and sugar bowl

Joseph & Nathaniel Richardson, Philadelphia

ca. 1785

These brothers "came of age during the difficult years of the Revolution after having served a long apprenticeship with their father. Their business was hampered until 1783, when they began odering goods from the silversmithing firm of John Masterman in London, with whom their fathr had also done business... With the death of Joseph Sr., in 1784, Joseph, his small family (he had married in 1780), and Nathaniel moved into their father's house on Front Street. The business propered not only from the silver they made for their customers but also from the sale of imported items and from investments in shipping."