The present spoon tray is the only known American example to survive. Ceramic or silver spoon trays were a popular item in the tea equipage of the first half of the 18th century, and Joseph Richardson's account books record that he made three spoon trays between 1737 and 1738. One, made for Philadelphian James Macca, was described as "a tea Spoon boat weight 3 oz 4 dwt" on August 20, 1737 (see Martha Gandy Fales, Joseph Richardson and Family: Philadelphia Silversmiths, 1974, pp. 100-101 and 294). The fine cypher on the present tray, based on English pattern books, may have been engraved by Laurence Herbert, an émigré from London employed by Syng and named in Syng's advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 19, 1748 (see Ian Quimby, American Silver at Winterthur, 1995, p. 450).