Jefferson
Cups
In
1806 Thomas Jefferson was bequeathed two silver cups by his friend
and teacher George Wythe. Several years later, Jefferson sent
the Wythe cups and two others to John Letelier, a Richmond silversmith.
Jefferson directed that they be melted down and made into eight
smaller cups, weighing about five ounces each and in the form
of a small cup sent as a model. They were to be gilded inside,
and four cups were to be marked "G.W. to T.J." and four marked
"T.J."
The completed cups were received at Monticello in 1810 and were used there until Jefferson's death in 1826. Four of the original eight Jefferson cups, which descended through Jefferson's grandchildren, are presently in the Monticello collection.
--Lucia C. Stanton, Monticello Research Department, August 1989
Photo of Jefferson Cup by Edward Owen; more information on Jefferson Cups can be found in the Monticello Explorer.