The following year Mercer paid a total of £23 for a silver sugar dish, weighing 8 oz., 5 dwt.; one dozen teaspoons and tray, 8 oz., 7 dwt.; a teapot and frame, 26 oz., 8 dwt. This lot of silver probably was bought at second hand, having been referred to as "Pugh's Plate p^d Edw^d Wright as by Rec^t." He paid John Coke, a Williamsburg silversmith, £1 6s. for engraving and cleaning it. In the meanwhile, in 1745, he had sold Coke £6 worth of old silver. He also sold a quantity of "old Plate" for £15 17s. 3d. to Richard Langton in England through Sydenham & Hodgson. In 1747 he made a large purchase of silver from the silversmith William King[99] of Williamsburg:
May 1747 By Bernard Moore for 1 Cup 51 1 30 8 3
By James Power for 1 Waiter 8 7-1/2 4 14 2-1/2
By a small D^o 8 8 -------------------------------- 148 15-1/2 @ 11/3 84 13 9
In March 1748, Mercer settled with Captain Lyndon for the following:
1 superfine large gilt Sconce glass 6 16 1 D^o 5 5 1 Walnut & gold D^o 2 10 1 Marble Sideboard 32/6 Bragolo [sic] 32/6 3 5
The following June he bought a marble table from William Jordan and in October "4 looking Glasses," which Jordan obtained from Sydenham & Hodgson.
Meanwhile, William Walker's brother Robert made 14 chairs for Mercer, on which William's carver spent 54 days. The total cost was £30 8s. The quality of Mercer's furniture is illustrated further by a purchase in 1750 from Lyonel Lyde,[100] a London merchant, of £43 13s. worth of "Cabinet Ware from Belchier." Belchier was a leading London furniture maker, whose shop in 1750 was located on the "south side of St. Paul's, right against the clock." Sir Ambrose Heal, in _The London Furniture Makers_, illustrates a superb japanned writing cabinet in green and gold chinoiserie made by Belchier in 1730.[101] Belchier also supplied Shalstone Manor, the Buckinghamshire estate of Henry Purefoy, with a table-desk in 1749 (fig. 13).[102]
The ledger notes other occasional purchases of furniture during this period. In 1746 Mercer paid cash "for oysters & a bedsteed," in the amount of 10s. 6d. In September 1748, he bought "an Escritoire" from tutor John Phipps, for which he paid £5.
[99] Probably William King, who married Elizabeth Edwards in Stafford in 1738. He was the son of Alfred King, whose parents were William King (d. 1702) and Judith Brent of Stafford. His account with Mercer seems to indicate that he was a silversmith. "Notes and Queries," _The King Family, VHM_ (Richmond, 1916), vol. 24, p. 203.