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mutigerbeetle

Pairpoint Hearthside Quadruple Plate 18171/2 coffee pot

mutigerbeetle
13 years ago

Pairpoint Mfg Co, New Bedford, Ma. 18171/2 quadruple plate Coffee pot.

I am a newbie here. My wife and I have had this old coffee pot for several years. It came down through her side of the family. I have successfully been unable to find any reference to the pot, thus I come to a community of folks that hopefully will have a bit of information. I can put up photos if photobucket is used on the forum. Or send them e-mail if a private message is used here. I belong to a number of firearms forums where this is commonplace.

The coffee pot has a built-in hot coal warmer around the bottom. When the coffee is hot, the pot can be raised and set in a turn key by a couple pegs that are attached to the side of the pot, and into supports on the stand so that it may be tilted and poured into a cup. Its total height is probably 18 inches including the carrying handle, and would probably hold 1/2 gallon of liquid easy, maybe even more. Quite a bit of imprinted design and scroll work.

Not the best description in the world, but maybe enough to start with.

MUtigerbeetl

Comments (25)

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    Post a photobucket picture or 2...or 3.
    Not sure what you mean by a hot coal warmer...those spirts of coffee pots usually held a spirit lamp.
    Linda C

  • mutigerbeetle
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I need to learn how to post a picture. Can I use photobucket?

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    Yes....just copy and paste the 3rd line of the links into the body of your message.

  • mutigerbeetle
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    {{gwi:1396147}}

    front:

    Hope this helps. Thanks for the quick responses. MUt

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    Where is the hot coal warmer? is it marked Pairpoint? On the bottom?
    What does the top of that brass thing look like....stand back and take a picture of the whole thing...please!

  • antiquesilver
    13 years ago

    Usually, these large tilting pitchers are for ice water.

  • sunnyca_gw
    13 years ago

    I have the Pairpoint Reprint Catalogue for 1894 In Cooperation with Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum published in 1997 price guide lists yours as $500-750 back then & gold has gone up a lot since then. All of this book is either silver or gold plated. No brass mentioned anywhere. Your water pitcher is on page 70 & came with matching goblet of metal with same flower-branch thing & same design around base of it as the base on the larger 1. I would try to get auction house to appraise it. Some do it free. Butterfield's in L.A. does it 1 day a month I think. Don't know where you are & don't know how popular these are & how many were made but worth checking further. See if the people that put the book together that I named above. That museum may be able to help you. Is your pitcher engraved with family name? I didn't see it , sometimes that is not to your advantage so may be good. The museum probably has a website. Good Luck!

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    Aww Sunny! That's cheating! :)
    Kidding of course--good find!

    (And that museum in New Bedford is wonderful if you're from non-whaling parts of the country or just a Melville fan.)

  • sunnyca_gw
    13 years ago

    I got a bunch of antique books for 1/2 price or less, yrs. ago as co. was going out of business. Nice to be able to use them to help somebody out. Irritating when you have stuff & don't know what it is. Oh, Mut! Your pitcher is slightly different probably specially made for the owner or maybe folks wanted them fancier but whatever, yours has the "change" at upper part of handle, there are no flowers on 1 in book so it was fancied up, this should make it worth a bit more than the plain metal upper handle.

  • mutigerbeetle
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    OK, I am only slightly confused now. I know the old pot is not gold! It may be silver plated, which is what I assume the quadraplate is supposed to mean. Someone asked for a picture of the whole pot:

    I haven't had much success of finding any reference to the catalog mentioned. Sunnyca, does my full picture help you out. Is it worth trying to find an appraiser (I live in the Atlanta, GA area) to have it looked at? One of the little pegs that are located about halfway up for hanging the pot in the rack is missing, but the rest is there as far as I can tell. I assumed that water was placed in the bottom of it, and then it was placed on a hot farm stove or next to a fireplace. How was it supposed to be used. Somehow, as a cold water pitcher doesn't quite sound right. Looking forward to the next installment. BTW, I don't know whether my wife has it, or one of her sisters, but one of them has a copy of a newspaper with the headline of George Washington's death. I need to have her find out where it is so it can be properly stored. Her Mother and father just recently passed away, and all sorts of old stuff are cluttering up my bonus room. MUt (Sorry, I just figured out who "Mut" was (;o). I graduated from the Univ. of Missouri many years ago. I got my MS in entomology, and "The Tigerbeetle" was the name of our department newsletter.

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    The silver appears to have worn off of the handle. It's an ice water pitcher...to be placed on the sideboard during dinner.
    What is the mark on the bottom? Can you picture it? Does it say Pairpoint New Bedford?
    What's that pointed thing on the front of the base? Is it part of the goblet which likely sat there?
    How much of the silver is worn off?
    As for contacting an appraiser...if you sold it you could probably get something between $150 and $250 for it....depending on how much silver is worn off. Do you want to pay an appraiser to nail that figure down? I wouldn't.
    As for the newspaper announcing George Washington's death, that was a popular souvenire in places liek Mt Vernon, Gettysburgh, Williamsburg and other historical sites.
    BUT...his death was printed in quite a few different papers....and since the news print used in the late 18th century was different than now, a few have survived. If it is original and in good shape it should bring upwards of $1000.

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    Can't you just swing/tilt it on the stand to have the water pour without picking it up? (If it still had both the pegs of course.) It's really quite practical.

    If my department had a newsletter I missed it, but it would have been called the boll weevil.

  • mutigerbeetle
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    sunnyca - The pairpoint logo is on the bottom. I will try to get a close up and post a pic. The little pointy thing on the base is just a fancy loking dodad. I will get a pic of that as well. It is hollow on the bottom and just the inverse image of the top. As a water pitcher, it does make more sense. It just reminded me of some of the old coffee pots I had seen in wilderness camps when I was with the USFS in Montana back in the 60's. Those were generally the blue with white dot porcelain covered pots. Boll Weevil - that is an interesting moniker.
    I will work on getting more pic.s. I will try a different camera where my macro settings might be better.
    Thanks! MUTigerbeetle

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    Does that point thing come out? Because that's the place where a goblet should be placed.
    Linda C

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    Could the goblet have a hollow stem or something to fit on the point?

    ...and golly! No respect for boll weevils in Missouri? =P

  • sunnyca_gw
    13 years ago

    The thing sitting there with the pointed top is where the goblet sat. Don't know a reason for that, probably to look more impressive pouring water!LOL People were nuts about their tea also. Gold tarnishes just like silver, not as fast tho & gold either wore off with use or someone started using silver polish on it & "wore" the gold off. If you have a jewelry cloth could rub it a bit on the tube going up over the top to see if it "turns gold"(shiny gold) I've had stuff from yard sales I bought in a Ziploc bag for $5 or less & discovered that some of the best pieces were the stuff I almost threw away. A "piece of copper pipe" or so I thought proved to be most valuable piece I had. It was just very dirty tarnished gold with nothing on it, no design & really looked like edges would be rough but they weren't. Friends owned jewelry store & I took several pieces in & that sad looking piece cleaned up beautifully & was worth more than all the other pieces put together. I thought it was copper because of pinkish color-rose gold. I had washed it & taken it as I thought they would have a good laugh. Laugh was on me! So if you find something weird in bunch of old jewelry or button box or jar, it might be valuable-old diamonds,rings, gold. My jewelry cloth cleaned up several gold chains that were marked & I still wear not real fancy but work well with some things I had minus the chain. Mut. you might call & ask if the auction house ever gives "free appraisals" or if you take a magazine that has free appraisals in it you could send them pic. that way you don't have to spend any money. If the gold is truly all worn off there would not be that much value,inside was supposed to be gold too so would think you could see some left in there unless acid ??? or some kind of drink or wine might have leeched it all off.

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    There was never any gold on this piece.It's quadruple silverplate. I know there have been some gold coffee pots in Tzarist Russia and Saudia Arabia, but not in Victorian America.
    The goblet was to pour water into...to drink. some pitchers had several goblets around the tray.
    Gold does not tarnish...it is the most non-reactive of metals. If you had something "gold" that seemed tarnished and cleaned up to be shiny....it wasn't gold.

  • mfrog
    13 years ago

    reprint from original catalogue, similar.
    We seem to forget that something as simple as ice water was a big deal 100+ years ago.

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    But they only came with one goblet? That seems so impractical!

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    And when was it practical to have a silver plated pitcher to hold your ice water...

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    Well, it's better than lead! :)

    Actually I think the tilting pitcher is kind of handy. It could hold a lot without having to worry if it's heavy. And it's a wee bit classier than a thermal pump pot or one of those ice tea jugs with the spout at the bottom. It even has the tray to catch condensation drips. I think this product has potential and needs to make a comeback!

    Stainless steel perhaps.

  • lindac
    13 years ago

    No need....My refrigerator has a button and voila!! ice water in your glass!!
    I think that pointy thing is the lid to something else...put there because the original goblet was lost.

  • Fori
    13 years ago

    But the goblets pictured in the catalog above probably have hollow bases that would fit snugly onto the point...obviously I'm making stuff up--I am completely unfamiliar with these devices!

    (I AM, however, familiar with refrigerators and they are just too awkward to haul into the dining room or onto the veranda! Teeheehee!)

  • peachygal0522_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    I have this exact pitcher but without the cup. Is it possible to get a cup for it? It is a coincidence that your pitcher is sitting on a stone hearth exactly like my fireplace hearth. Hmmm!

  • sam_md
    13 years ago

    tigerbeetle,
    Like everything on this forum, condition means everything.
    Your waterpitcher appears to have alot of damage and wear. Does it have its original liner, what shape is it in?
    There's one on ebay with a grapevine motif, as of this writing 0 bidding interest and that one is in good shape.
    Your Pairpoint water pitcher is silver plated. Around here such items are sold by box lot in country auctions and don't bring much however it is an interesting conversation piece and reminiscent of times gone by.

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