Of unusually petite and delightful style. Delicate open-form, hung with three tiers of bells, surmounted by Star-of-David form. Height: 6 inches.

EXCEPTIONAL PAIR OF AMERICAN SILVER TORAH FINIALS.

circa 1825

Inscribed along rim: "A.H. Abrahams, Charleston, So. Ca. Alexander Hezekiel Abrahams was born in Bremen, Germany in 1801. His wife Hannah Abrahams (1809-75) operated her own dry-goods store and was one of only a small number of independent Charleston businesswomen. Alexander died on the 16th October, 1871 in Charleston and is buried in the city's Beth Elo-him Cemetery. These important finials are illustrated in J. Weinstein’s “A Collectors Guide to Judaica” (1985), color plate no. X. The pioneer Hebrew Congregations of pre- and post-colonial America commissioned a number of fine silver synagogue appurtenances, many of which are still extant. However from the late 18th-century until the mass migration of Jews to America in the late 19th-century, only a bare handful of silver Judaica were fashioned in the United States. Consequently, 19th-century Americn Jewish ceremonial objects are of the greatest rarity.