An American Silver Large Coffee Pot, Joseph & Nathaniel Richardson, Philadelphia, circa 1777

of double-bellied pear form with fluted and gadrooned borders, fluted and leaf-capped spout, gadrooned urn finial, engravd on one side with contemporary foliate script monogram WSR

William and Sarah (Saunders) Redwood, to his daughter by his first marriage
Sarah Redwood, married Miers Fisher, thence by descent
William Redwood Fisher
Redwood Warner Fisher
Inez Fisher Platt
Sold, Sotheby's, New York, 21-22 January 2000, lot 123

Haggin, California: Haggin Memorial Museum and Art Galleries, 1932-circa 1955

San Francisco L M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Three Centuries of Euorpean and American Domestic Silver, 1938

good condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

William Redwood and Sarah Saunders were married in Philadelphia on January 18, 1776.  She was the eldest of the 11 children of Quaker Joseph Saunders and his wife Hannah Reeve.  Born in 1741, in 1753 she stitched a canvaswork bible cover sold by Sotheby's in 2014.

From the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, "Background Note to the William Redwood account books":
William Redwood, son of Abraham Redwood and his second wife Patience Phillips, was born in 1726 in Newport, Rhode Island. He worked for a number of years in partnership with Elias Bland. Together as local merchants, they imported goods from Britain, China, and India for their customers. Redwood moved to Philadelphia 1772 where he continued his mercantile pursuits.

In addition to these New England connections, the Redwood family (through Abraham's marriage to his first wife, Mehetabel Langford) also owned an estate on the island of Antigua in the West Indies. The estate was maintained by a number of Redwood's half-siblings. When his nephew Jonas Redwood died, Redwood traveled to Antigua to help take care of the estate. He lived there from 1782 to 1787 and helped run a plantation located on the estate.

Redwood returned to Philadelphia in 1787 and continued his work as a merchant. He married twice, first to Hannah Holmes, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Holmes, and second to Sarah Saunders, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Saunders. Each marriage produced several children. For a time, Redwood helped keep track of the finances of Joseph Saunders's estate after his death. William Redwood died in Philadelphia in 1815.

William was the half-brother of Abraham Redwood of Newport, who founded the Redwood Library.  Sarah Redwood, who inherited this pot, was the child of William's first marriage to Hannah Holmes.  She married Miers Fisher in Newport in 1755, and was the sole inherited of William's property in Rhode Island, which may be how she came by this coffee pot engraved for her stepmother; Sarah Saunders Redwood had died in 1789.

Two similar double-bellied coffee pots by the Richardsons, belonging to Philadelphia couples and dated circa 1781 and circa 1786, are illustrated in Martha Gandy Fales, Joseph Richardson and Family, Philadelphia Silversmiths, figs. 140 and 141.  Another example is at Winterthur, see Ian M.G. Quimby, American Silver at Wintherthur, no. 457, p. 436, and an almost identical model sold Sotheby's, New York, 20-22 January 2006, lot 166.