Highlighting Christie’s Americana sales, a never-before-seen Sheffield-plated silver wine cooler given by George Washington to Alexander Hamilton in 1797 will be auctioned on Jan. 19, 2012,
Estimated to reach $400,000 to $600,000, the four-bottle wine cooler is an important piece of American history—the only known three-dimensional object connecting the two great men.
As the first United States secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton formed a close friendship with George Washington. The wine cooler was commissioned by George Washington in 1789 to be used at post-dinner entertainment.
Correspondence between Washington and another founding father of the United States, Gouverneur Morris, revealed Washington’s great attention to detail with his description of the cooler. He noted his preference for “an allowance in the depth of it for ice at bottom so as to raise the neck of the decanter above the cooler.”
“The reason why I prefer an aperture for every decanter or bottle to coolers that would contain two and four is that whether full or empty the bottles will always stand upright and never be at variance with each other,” he wrote.
Gouverneur Morris had the responsibility of obtaining objects for the president’s house. He wrote Washington in one of his letters: “I think it of very great importance to fix the Taste of our Country properly, and I think your example will go very far in that respect. It is therefore my wish that every thing about you should be substantially good and majestically plain; made to endure.”
The cooler is simply decorated with a lion’s mask and ring handles. Christie’s explained in a press release that the choice of Sheffield-plated silver, a layered combination of silver and copper, instead of solid silver, emphasized the founding fathers’ preference for austerity.
During Washington’s presidential term, he purchased four coolers, selling one, taking two to Mount Vernon, and presenting the fourth to Hamilton.
Engraved on the wine cooler by Hamilton’s descendants in the mid-19th century is the letter Washington sent to Hamilton with the cooler.
The inscription reads: “My dear Sir, Not for any intrinsic value the thing possesses, but as a token of my sincere regard and friendship for you, and as a remembrance of me, I pray you to accept a wine cooler for four bottles. It is one of four which I imported in the early part of my late administration of the Government, two of which were ever used.
“I pray you to present my best wishes, in which Mrs. Washington joins me to Mrs. Hamilton, and the family, and that you would be persuaded that with every sentiment of the highest regard, I remain your sincere friend, and affectionate humble servant: Geo. Washington.”
Jeanne Sloane, deputy chairman and head of Silver at Christie’s, said they are thrilled to have located Washington’s original letter of presentation in the Library of Congress.
