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Four-piece Reed & Barton Pattern No. 1780 (‘Chased’) silverplate tea and coffee service from the estate of notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone, accompanied by a collection of 31 associated silverplate flatware and serving pieces, including Wm. Rogers & Son flatware, sterling silver ladles, and other serving implements that descended with the service. According to the consignor, whose family acquired the collection directly from Al Capone's widow, Mae Capone, the pieces descended through the family and have remained together ever since.
The centerpiece of the collection is an elegant four-piece Reed & Barton Pattern No. 1780 silverplate hollowware service, consisting of a coffee pot, teapot, covered sugar bowl, and creamer. Introduced in 1880, the richly chased Victorian design features repoussé floral ornament, paneled bodies, scrolling foliate handles, paw feet, and matching finials, with the underside stamped "1780 Reed & Barton." Each item bears engraved script monograms.
Complementing the service is a selection of 31 associated flatware and serving pieces, many of which bear the stamp of noted American maker Wm. Rogers & Son. The collection includes six teaspoons, five dinner knives, a serving spoon, a pickle or olive fork, six ornate sterling silver ladles, six monogrammed ladles, a mother-of-pearl-handled serving fork, four silverplate picks or skewers, and an English EPNS ladle. In overall fine condition, with three finials no longer present.
Accompanied by a signed statement of provenance from Beth Sutton Herlihy, whose family was related to the Capones by marriage: "My mother was Mona Pucci Clemens (she was born Mona Pucci), and her parents were Rudolph and Maxine Pucci. Rudolph Pucci's sister, Dorothy Pucci Capone, was my great-aunt. For many years, her husband was Albert Capone, who was born Umberto Capone. He was a brother of Chicago Mob Boss Alphonse Capone, and my family was close to the Capones, including to Alphonse Capone, being related to them by marriage….Alphonse Capone's wife, Mae, gave several items to my grandmother and grandfather. In particular, my grandmother was given a very old Tea Pot collection. The Tea Pot has been in the possession of my family continuously since Maxine Pucci received it from Mae Capone….Several of our family photos appear in the book Capone: The Man and the Era by Laurence Bergreen. My grandmother, Maxine Pucci, and my mother, Mona Pucci Clemens, licensed those images to Mr. Bergreen, who knew that we were related to the Capones."
