* Editor’s note: This is another in a series of stories highlighting “treasures” at the Hattie Weber Museum.

By Adrian Gabriel

The homestead of Jerome C. Davis’ award-winning stock farm sat a stone’s throw southwest of First and A streets. One of his awards, an engraved silver water pitcher, sits on display at the Hattie Weber Museum, 445 C St. in downtown Davis.

The prize was awarded at the State Fair in September 1861. Abraham Lincoln had been in office six months. The Civil War was in its early stages and the first Battle of Lexington was taking place in Missouri.

The silver water pitcher joined other awards given to Davis, such as the silver plate awarded to him at the 1858 California State Fair. The California State Agricultural Society Report contains a detailed description of Davis’ farm, along with multiple illustrations.

The farm “contain(ed) 12,000 acres, having a front on Putah River (sic) of three miles.” There was a “dwelling house…horse barn…cow barn…sheds…two dairy-houses…steam mill and manufacturing shops.”

There was another building for a “steam pump capable of raising…864,000 gallons every 24 hours.” Davis had “2,000 cattle, 210 horses and mules…150 hogs” and “250 milch-cows, from which they now (June 29) have on hand in the dairy houses 120 cheeses, which will average 60 pounds each,” totaling a very extensive operation.

Davis’ award-winning heifer calf, California Belle; bull calf, Comet; and 3-year-old bull, Joe; received full-page illustrations in the report. There was also a bird’s-eye of the Davis farm included as a foldout. A copy of the lithograph is displayed over the silver pitcher in the museum. The lithograph serves as a prototype for future aerial photography of the city. The silver plate, however, is currently lost.

The water pitcher bears the seal of the Agricultural Society of a bear watching over the labor, fruits and prizes of the California soil. On the opposite side is a rustic farm homestead with smoke billowing from the chimney in relief. On the bottom are three stamps. One says “PURE COIN.” Another is “S.F. CAL.” The other stamp is “J.W. TUCKER,” the maker of the pitcher.

John W. Tucker was born in 1822, the same year as Davis. He came out from New York and established a store in San Francisco in 1850 — about the same time Davis was going into business with his father-in-law, Joseph B. Chiles. Tucker quickly made a name for himself as a private civic leader in San Francisco. He championed the use and manufacture of gold coins, supported libraries and stood up for improved, widened streets and sidewalks.

Tucker was called a “flamboyant advertiser” in the 1986 book “Silver and the Golden State” and was not given credit for manufacturing his gold and silver pieces. However, Panseylea Howard Willburn gave new credence to Tucker’s legacy in a 2008 article for Silver Magazine, “San Francisco’s Unbelievable John W. Tucker.”

It is true that Tucker was not a silversmith himself, but was a carpenter by trade. Many of the retail items in his store were made by other manufacturers. However, first-hand newspaper accounts show that many commissioned pieces were made at Tucker’s shop in San Francisco.

Tucker’s craftsmen did widely appreciated work. Future Gov. Milton Latham was presented with a coffee/tea service in 1857. Future Gov. Henry Haight’s tea service, presented in the mid-1850s, allegedly helped establish San Francisco as a fashionable crafts center. But the most impressive presentation must have a seven-piece solid gold tea set, of which outgoing San Francisco Mayor Cornelius K. Garrison was the lucky recipient in 1854.

Manufacturing commissioned sets for important locals was only one part of Tucker’s “flamboyant advertising.” He also sent gold-bearing quartz to the czar of Russia in 1858 and received an amethyst, diamond and gold ring set in return. Thought not himself a Catholic, Tucker is also credited with sending a $6,000 diamond chalice to the pope.

Tucker’s gold watches and belt buckles became hot items around the country, but his fame was not to last, even with his other business ventures, which included selling tract homes on installment plans and being part owner of a stamp mill in Aurora and the Opera House Gold Mine in Bodie.

Tucker’s legacy would not reach the same peak as that of Davis. The whereabouts of the 1854 gold tea set or the 1858 Davis plate, if it was a Tucker item, are unknown. But one of Tucker’s pieces — the silver pitcher awarded to Jerome C. Davis in 1861 — can be seen Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Hattie Weber Museum.

All are welcome; admission is free. Donations are gratefully received.

— Adrian Gabriel is a Davis resident and a volunteer at the Hattie Weber Museum.

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An engraved silver water pitcher awarded at the 1861 California State Fair the stock farm of Jerome C. Davis, our community’s namesake, at the California State Fair is one of the treasures that can be seen at the Hattie Weber Museum, 445 C St. in downtown Davis. Courtesy photo

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The pitcher, crafted by John W. Tucker, bears the seal of the Agricultural Society of a bear watching over the labor, fruits and prizes of the California soil. Courtesy photo

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