Chalice

1804-1805

Literally made out of money, silver objects were valuable heirlooms to be passed from one generation to the next. The inscription on this goblet—“A Mark of Friendship”—suggests that the vessel also had sentimental value. It descended through the Livingston family (of Scottish ancestry), one of the most powerful dynasties in colonial New York State. Philip Livingston (1716–1778), a merchant, politician, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the first Livingston to settle in Brooklyn Heights, where he built a lavish country estate in the 1760s.