American colonists owned quantities of fine English silver. This was especially true of colonists living south of Philadelphia in regions too small to support local silversmiths. As the engraved crest attests, these imposing sticks belonged to Harry Dorsey Gough (d. 1808), a Baltimore merchant who, as a young man, inherited a large fortune from an English relative. Gough named his country estate Perry Hall, after a family castle near Birmingham, England. His house, still standing in Baltimore County, was the scene of boisterous parties until Gough became involved in the Methodist movement sweeping the American colonies in the 1770s. Because imported silver represented a sensitive barometer of fashion, taste, and wealth in Maryland and other colonies, the BMA acquires "American by association" silver whenever possible.