Pair of Torah Finials

Myer Myers was a renowned gold- and silversmith who was born in colonial New York. The son of Dutch immigrants, Myers became one of America’s foremost craftsmen of the late eighteenth century by creating works for elite non-Jewish clients alongside his production of Jewish ritual objects. As the number of synagogues in New York and Philadelphia increased, there was a growing need for ceremonial objects, which encouraged artisans like Myers to take up smithing. Myers completed a seven-year apprenticeship, registering as a goldsmith in 1746, at which point he was the first American-born Jew to become an established retail silversmith within the British Empire. He became the president of the New York Silversmiths Society in 1786.