unidentefied bell dated 1775

[jim phillips]

At 14.47 on 25/04/05 Carl S Zimmerman wrote:

>A correspondent has asked for assistance in identifying the maker of
>a smallish bell which is dated 1775 but carries no maker's mark.
>Since it is apparently located in the New England area of America, it
>seems possible that it was made either by an early colonial
>bellfounder or by an English foundry. Unfortunately there seems to
>be no documented history for this bell, aside from the fact that it
>has been in a private collection since the 1940s.

Could the bell possibly have been by Aaron Hobart who set up a bell foundry 
in Abington shortly before the Revolution? Hobart's instructor was a fellow 
by the name of Gillimore who had deserted from the British army shortly 
before the Boston Massacre and had became an American. Gillimore had been a 
bell founder by trade before joining the army but I cannot find which 
English founder he would have worked for. The small number of bells cast by 
Hobart were apparently sold in Boston by Paul Revere's friend Joseph Wilson. 
In 1775 the state asked Hobart to make canon. When Paul Revere started to 
cast bells in about 1792 it is reported that he went to Abington and brought 
back one of Hobart's sons and a foundry worker possibly Gillimore. Paul 
Revere's foundry cast nearly 400 bells, the largest bell cast by him hangs 
in the King's Chapel, Boston and is reputed to possess a very fine tone. 
May I suggest you look at a small early Revere bell and if the casting 
resembles the bell in question (the canon does) then your bell could 
possibly have been by Hobart. There must be some sketches held in museums 
of early American bells which may prove of assistance.