05/14/2025
Seems like the bidder got a deal on this one! What a great story!
Dolley Madisonās Plundered Coffeepot Sells in the U.K.
On August 24, 1814, following a victory at Bladensburg, Maryland, British forces captured the city of Washington, D.C., and set fire to the White House, the Capitol, the Treasury, and the Library of Congress.
Lewis Agassiz (1793-1866) of the Royal Marines led one of the firing parties into Washington, D.C. To reward his efforts in the battle and for reportedly being the first soldier to go forth and torch The White House, the Agassiz family was granted a coat of arms by the British Crown with a family crest depicting a flaming torch.
https://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/dolley-madisons-plundered-coffeepot-sells-in-the-uk/10158
Agassiz, seeing the table set for a dinner for more than 40 military and cabinet officers, helped himself to a George II coffeepot as a souvenir. That coffeepot, inscribed āRetrieved from / The Presidentās Palace / Aug 24th 1814 / 2nd Lieut / Lewis Agassiz / RM,ā with a crest of a flaming torch, made by Elizabeth Godfrey in London in 1742, was sold together with a Victorian small silver tankard by John and Henry Lias with the same family crest of a flaming torch at John Rolfe Auctions in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, in the U.K. on March 15 for Ā£21,328 (includes buyerās premium). In U.S. dollars the price was $27,612.
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