Both in his role as a messenger in the American Revolution and as an accomplished silversmith, Paul Revere opposed the authority of British colonial control. He engraved this salt vessel with the words “The Illustrous Ninety-Two” in commemoration of an American act of political defiance to British rule. In 1768, the members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives drafted a letter to the other colonies urging them to defy King George III’s orders for taxation without representation. Revere’s inscription on the salt refers to the ninety-two members of the House who voted in favor of sending the letter. This object memorializes a moment of questioning royal authority.