Steve/sewell
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The one ethnic group in early colonial times that supported the British Crown more so then the direct descendants from England before, during and even sometimes after the Revolutionary war were the Germans who had first come to America as refugees fleeing their home country do to religious persecution inflicted upon them.Their passage to this country was always from the Palatinate to England first.Upon departing from England they would sail into Philadelphia where they were accounted for and sent to other German masters scattered in the Mid Atlantic and the Boston area in New England. The largest area in the colonies with German settlers was Eastern Pennsylvania.From the Pocono Mountains in the north to the lower Susquehanna river valley to the south Germans settled in large numbers.Caspar Wistar the glass maker and button maker from Philadelphia in the mid 1720s right on through 1740 sold more land to German settlers then any one person or entity.The Germans were very supportive of the British crown simply because the British helped them leave their homes in the German Palatinate and to start anew in the colonies.Most of the German immigrants were hard workers who made it in the new country through mostly hard work but also through the network established by very prominent Germans such as Caspar Wistar.
After the French and Indian war took its toll financially on both Great Britain and the Colonies The British Crown sent troops into the colonies to protect them from the French and Indians.This was seen in two very different lights by the colonists.Great Britain had a legitimate concern regarding protecting the citizenry from raids by the French and the Indians but also used the army to control unrest that was growing because of of the ever increasing tax burden placed upon the people. In 1767 the British imposed a tariff on all durable goods imported into the colonies and they were known as the Townshend Acts.The purpose was to raise revenue in the colonies to furnish the salaries of Colony governors and judges so they would be independent of colonial rule, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770.It also helped to spur home based manufacturing by the colonists and this is one of the reasons Stiegel profited early from the situation.As a result of the massacre in Boston, Parliament began to consider a motion to partially repeal the Townshend duties. Most of the new taxes were repealed, but the tax on tea was retained. The British government continued in its attempt to tax the colonists without their consent, however, and the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution soon followed.The growing unrest continued to expand as more examples of British tyranny were repeating themselves through out the colonies.
The American Revolution was inevitable............
This bottle I acquired is made of milk glass and was manufactured in the half post method of two gathers of glass.The bottle has an English Army officer holding a pistol in his right hand firing a shot upwards as smoke is painted above his hand.The officer also has a sword attached to his belt in a black holder.Because of the gold tassel's hanging down on each side of the head I have determined that the person depicted was an officer and not a regular infantryman.The soldier is British no doubt as this was the uniform type worn in the mid 1760s.When I asked my 8 year old nephew who he thought was on the bottle he immediately said George Washington which makes sense because the clothes worn by the colonists were similar to the British attire.This bright red jacket however is the trade mark of the British Army.
The rest of the bottle is decorated in the typical Stiegel German peasant Pennsylvanian decor consisting of flowers and plants.There is a rough pontil mark on the bottom and a threaded pewter cap on top.The bottle also has a strong scent of whatever type of perfume or smelling salts were in the bottle.The Bottle is in excellent shape for one that is over 238 years of age. I now have over 40 pieces of this type of glass of which at least 25 of them were painted with the same hand Sebastian Witmer one of Stiegels enamelers.I believe since the person depicted is a British soldier then this bottle was made in America by Stiegels factory in the 1772-1773 time period as this is when Stiegel advertised that painted decanters and toiletry bottles could be had.In addition I don't think these would have been popular a couple of more years later as painted British soldiers probably wouldn't have sold so well during the revolutionary war.
It could also be the original Captain Crunch for all I know.[
]
After the French and Indian war took its toll financially on both Great Britain and the Colonies The British Crown sent troops into the colonies to protect them from the French and Indians.This was seen in two very different lights by the colonists.Great Britain had a legitimate concern regarding protecting the citizenry from raids by the French and the Indians but also used the army to control unrest that was growing because of of the ever increasing tax burden placed upon the people. In 1767 the British imposed a tariff on all durable goods imported into the colonies and they were known as the Townshend Acts.The purpose was to raise revenue in the colonies to furnish the salaries of Colony governors and judges so they would be independent of colonial rule, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770.It also helped to spur home based manufacturing by the colonists and this is one of the reasons Stiegel profited early from the situation.As a result of the massacre in Boston, Parliament began to consider a motion to partially repeal the Townshend duties. Most of the new taxes were repealed, but the tax on tea was retained. The British government continued in its attempt to tax the colonists without their consent, however, and the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution soon followed.The growing unrest continued to expand as more examples of British tyranny were repeating themselves through out the colonies.
The American Revolution was inevitable............
This bottle I acquired is made of milk glass and was manufactured in the half post method of two gathers of glass.The bottle has an English Army officer holding a pistol in his right hand firing a shot upwards as smoke is painted above his hand.The officer also has a sword attached to his belt in a black holder.Because of the gold tassel's hanging down on each side of the head I have determined that the person depicted was an officer and not a regular infantryman.The soldier is British no doubt as this was the uniform type worn in the mid 1760s.When I asked my 8 year old nephew who he thought was on the bottle he immediately said George Washington which makes sense because the clothes worn by the colonists were similar to the British attire.This bright red jacket however is the trade mark of the British Army.
The rest of the bottle is decorated in the typical Stiegel German peasant Pennsylvanian decor consisting of flowers and plants.There is a rough pontil mark on the bottom and a threaded pewter cap on top.The bottle also has a strong scent of whatever type of perfume or smelling salts were in the bottle.The Bottle is in excellent shape for one that is over 238 years of age. I now have over 40 pieces of this type of glass of which at least 25 of them were painted with the same hand Sebastian Witmer one of Stiegels enamelers.I believe since the person depicted is a British soldier then this bottle was made in America by Stiegels factory in the 1772-1773 time period as this is when Stiegel advertised that painted decanters and toiletry bottles could be had.In addition I don't think these would have been popular a couple of more years later as painted British soldiers probably wouldn't have sold so well during the revolutionary war.
It could also be the original Captain Crunch for all I know.[
]
