Coffin Plate

PeriodCirca 1811

Place MadeMiddletown Point, New Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumSilver

Dimensions3.88 × 5.38 × 0.38 in. (9.8 × 13.7 × 1 cm)

ClassificationsSilver

Credit LineGift of Josephine Mabel Brown, 1948

Object number3253.2

DescriptionAn oval coffin plate, with slight domed profile, inscribed in a mixture of print and cursive lettering "JAMES KEARNY / Obt 17th Jany 1811 AEt / 60 Years 2 Mons & 20 Days." Four small screw or nail holes are drilled into the plate and top, bottom, left, and right center close to the edges.
Curatorial RemarksCoffin plates were used from the 17th century on. In America, these plates began appearing frequently in the early 19th century. Simple shapes such as ovals were made of tin, zinc, lead, iron, pewter, or expensive material such as silver, engraved with the name and birth and death dates of the casket's occupant. Beginning in the 1840s, breastplates were machine made and as the century drew on became more elaborate and decorative. The coffin plates of James' brother Edmund Kearny and Edmund's wife Ann Kearny are both stamped with the maker's mark of silversmith John Schanck (1774-1864), but James Kearny's coffin plate is unmarked.NotesThomas Kearny (the family name was also spelled "Kearney" in various documents) was a New York merchant who purchased a large tract of land along the Bayshore in the early 18th century. By 1716, Thomas Kearny had built a house on the property. His son, also named Thomas, inherited the land and later passed it on to his son, James Kearney (1749-1811). Part of the estate was known as Key Grove. James never married and left the Key Grove property to his brother Edmund (died 1822) and Edmund's wife Ann Bowne (1780-1819). The Association owns the coffin plates of Edmund and Ann Kearny (see accession numbers 3253.1 and 3253.3). According to donor and Keyport Josephine Mabel Brown, "the Partition Sale of the Capt. Edmund Kearny Estate took place on Nov. 3 & 4, 1829, and thereafter no Kearnys lived on the tract. With none of the Kearny family to take care of the family vault it soon went to decay...The rough element of the town [Keyport] used to infest the tomb and rob it of everything they could conveniently carry off. These three coffin plates were stolen from the coffins by persons who bargained rum with them. The saloon proprietor would take them, give them the rum, and afterward give them to the Justice of the Peace, Mr. Nimrod Bedle to keep. None of the Kearnys [were] living on the tract and not knowing where they were [Bedle] wrapped them up securely and hid them in the rafters of the attic...and there they remained. When it came time to sell the old home remove their belongings...among the things were the three old coffin plates that were hidden in the rafters..." Apparently Nimrod Bedle's granddaughter gave them to Josephine Brown sometime in or around 1905, who in turn wrote that "The Monmouth County Historical Association would be the best custodian for all time, as the Kearnys were old Monmouth County people." A Keyport Weekly newspaper article in August of 1969 noted "[the Kearny Vault] was situated a couple of miles south of the Key Grove Mansion, and surrounded by a fence. For three generations the remains of the Kearny family were deposited there, but in 1930 not a trace of the vault or property or fence could be found. However, we have the word of Justice Henry E. Ackerson Jr., that around 1895-98, in his boyhood, the vault was intact. An historic reminder that this is a true story are two Silver Casket Plates which were stolen from the vault and eventually found their way to the Museum of Monmouth County Historical Association. Both are handmade, one by Paul Revere." The article includes some discrepancies, most notably that three coffin plates came into the collection. While two of the plates are marked with local silversmith John Schanck's mark, the third (that of James Kearny) is unmarked. The connection to Paul Revere is most likely fiction, as there were any number of highly skilled silversmiths in Monmouth and nearby New York City.

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