THE PIECES: New Orleans "coin silver" coffee and tea service,
including a tray, coffee pot, two teapots, a covered sugar
basin, a waste bowl and a cream pitcher, each inscribed
"Presented to F. H. Hatch/Collector of the Port of New
Orleans/By his Friends in the Custom House/May 1st 1861." Made
by Terfloth and Kuchler in about 1860. THE (ORIGINAL) OWNER:
This spectacular service was presented to Francis Hanson Hatch,
customs collector of the Port of New Orleans, by the officers of
the Custom House. The New England-born Hatch came to New Orleans
in his youth and made a fortune in the wholesale grocery
business before entering politics; President James Buchanan
appointed him customs collector in 1857. After Louisiana seceded
from the Union in 1861, Hatch continued as customs collector for
the short-lived Republic of Louisiana and then the Confederacy,
until the Union Navy captured the city in 1862. He was declared
a traitor and most of his property was seized, because he had
left New Orleans to become customs co