![[3733793] “By the Name of Hammond.” Late 18th to early 19th c. original watercolor coat-of-arms for the Hammond family of Massachusetts, possibly commissioned by Samuel Hammond, Boston Tea Party patriot. Hammond Family of Massachusetts.](https://rareamericana.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/3733793.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1707422165)
“By the Name of Hammond.” Late 18th to early 19th c. original watercolor coat-of-arms for the Hammond family of Massachusetts, possibly commissioned by Samuel Hammond, Boston Tea Party patriot.
A Boston Tea Party patriot dreams up the Great Seal of the United States ... atop a knight’s helmet?
Watercolor arms were produced by a number of New England painters, but the most prolific of the post-Revolutionary heraldic artists was John Coles, Sr. (1749-1809) and his son, John Coles, Jr. (1778–1854) who studied with Frothingham under Gilber Stuart. The Senior Coles first appears in the Boston directories in 1796 as a “Heraldry Painter,” but he was also a printer and publisher of engravings. From 1806-1807, he was located at 61 Newberry Street. Coles, Jr. began his career in 1803. (Nina Fletcher Little; American Antiquarian Society)
The present coat-of-arms was accomplished for the Hammonds of Massachusetts. It is unlike any other coat-of-arms we have seen for the Hammonds in America. The fronds or “cornstalks” are almost identical to those drawn by the Coles. (See our example of the coat-of-arms for the Nickerson family, also of Massachusetts, for comparison.)
The arms may have been partly-derived from an English origin or completely made up from whole cloth by the Coles. Depicted on the gold-decorated shield of the coat of arms are a cross bearing a single fleur-de-lis and lion heads in each quadrant. The crest depicts the Great Seal of the United States atop a knight’s helmet. Supporting elements include two additional eagle heads in gold, the “Cole” fronds in green, additional vegetation in red, and a banner with the legend “By the Name of Hammond.”
The likely patron for this coat-of-arms is Samuel Hammond (1748–1842), a Boston Tea Party participant cited in a recent article: “In 1773, he was 25 when he participated in the Boston Tea Party and a small quantity of tea accidentally lodged in his boot.”
The Coles’s watercolor may have sought to re-brand the Massachusetts Hammond branch as a newly-minted and distinctly American family, using the American eagle in the crest to mythologize Samuel Hammond’s role in the American Revolution.
Description: “By the Name of Hammond.” Late 18th to early 19th c. original watercolor coat-of-arms for the Hammond family of Massachusetts, possibly commissioned by Samuel Hammond, Boston Tea Party patriot.
[Massachusetts, likely Boston, ca. late 18th to early 19th c.]. 14 x 11 inches. Watercolor, ink, pencil, gouache highlights on a sheet of laid 18th c. paper, very browned and mounted to a thin wooden backing. jnsbjc367325
[3733793]“[Samuel] Hammond was born in 1748 in Newton, Mass. and was a ‘teamer,’ meaning that he owned a team of horses and several wagons that could carry goods between Boston and neighboring towns, and later a farmer in Vermont. In 1770 he married Mary (née Rogers) and had three children. In 1773, he was 25 when he participated in the Boston Tea Party and a small quantity of tea accidentally lodged in his boot. In the late 1770s, he and his family moved north and were one of the founding settlers of Wardsboro where he died in 1842.” accessed online, per “Wardsboro man honored as part of Boston Tea Party anniversary” and via Brattleboro Reformer. See Falk.
Price: $650.00 save 23% $500.50