In 1774, on the eve of the American Revolution, a guest at Colonel Robert Carter’s Virginia plantation noted in his journal, “After dinner, we had a Grand and agreeable Walk in & through the Gardens… Drank Coffee at four, they are now too patriotic to use tea.” A year earlier, angry colonists had thrown chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest British taxes, perhaps stimulating a fresh demand for coffee among those who supported the cause of independence. Nevertheless, American silversmiths produced far fewer coffee pots than teapots, due in part to their size, weight, and cost. A bold cast eagle serves as the finial atop this coffee pot, made in Philadelphia soon after the American Revolution. It bears the engraved initials CGD but the first owner’s name has been lost.