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"BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1706 - 1790"

DECORATIVE DAMASCENE TRAY

SILVER PLATE DECORATIVE ROUND

BY REED & BARTON

LIMITED EDITION

#153 OF 2500

 MEASURE ABOUT 11" IN DIAMETER

VINTAGE

CIRCA 1970 - 1980

GREAT OFFICE OR DEN DECOR

GREAT GIFT FOR YOUR GOVERNMENT ZEALOT

ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!

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FYI

Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most prominent of the Founders and early political figures, inventor, and a statesmen of the United States.

One of the earliest Founders, Franklin was noted for his curiosity, writings, ingenuity and diversity of interests. His wise and scintillating writings are proverbial to this day. He shaped the American Revolution; a leader of the Enlightenment, he gained the recognition of scientists and intellectuals across Europe and the United States. As an agent in London before the Revolution, and Minister to France during, he more than anyone defined the new nation in the minds of Europe. His success in securing French military and financial aid was the turning point for American victory over Britain. He invented the lightning rod; he was an early proponent of colonial unity; historians hail him as the "First American". The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania marked Franklin's 300th birthday in January 2006 with a wide array of exhibitions, and events citing Franklin's extraordinary accomplishments throughout his illustrious career.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts to a tallow-maker, Franklin learned printing from his older brother and became a newspaper editor, printer, and merchant in Philadelphia, becoming very wealthy. He spent many years in England and published the famous Poor Richard's Almanac and the Pennsylvania Gazette. He formed both the first public lending library and fire department in America as well as the Junto, a political discussion club.

He became a national hero in America when he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. A diplomatic genius, Franklin was almost universally admired among the French as American minister to Paris, and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. From 1775 to 1776, Franklin was Postmaster General under the Continental Congress and from 1785 to his death in 1790 was President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.

Franklin was interested in science and technology, carrying out his famous electricity experiments and invented the Franklin stove, medical catheter, lightning rod, swimfins, glass armonica (not the harmonica, which was invented long after Franklin), and bifocals. He also played a major role in establishing the higher education institutions that would become the University of Pennsylvania and the Franklin and Marshall College. In addition, Franklin was a noted linguist, fluent in five languages. He also practiced and published on astrology (see Poor Richard's Almanac).

Franklin was also noted for his philanthropy and several liaisons, including that which produced his illegitimate Loyalist son William Franklin, later the colonial governor of New Jersey. Towards the end of his life, he became one of the most prominent early American abolitionists.

Franklin in popular culture
Franklin was placed on the first U.S. postage stamp which was issued in 1847. He has been on numerous other stamps, as well as the half dollar minted from 1948-63, and the commemorative dollars (showing a young "scientist" and old "founding father") minted on his tercentennial. The reverses of the latter pieces are respectively based on the "Join or Die" cartoon he drew and the continental dollar, which he supposedly designed. He also appears on the $100 bill, which is popularly called a "benjamin."
Benjamin Franklin is one of the main inventors of Gregory Keyes' The Age of Unreason tetralogy.
A fictionalized but somewhat accurate version of Franklin appears as a main character in the stage musical 1776. The film version of 1776 features Howard da Silva, who originated the role of Franklin on Broadway.
A young Benjamin Franklin appears in Neal Stephenson's novel of 17th century science and alchemy, Quicksilver.
Walt Disney's cartoon Ben and Me (1953), based on the book by Robert Lawson, counterfactually explains to children that Ben Franklin's achievements were actually the ideas of a mouse named Amos.
Franklin surprisingly appears as a character in Tony Hawk's Underground 2, a skateboarding video game. Players encounter Franklin in his hometown of Boston and are able to play as him thereafter.
Proud Destiny by Lion Feuchtwanger, a novel mainly about Pierre Beaumarchais and Benjamin Franklin beginning in 1776's Paris.
Ben Franklin appears in the LucasArts Entertainment Company Game Day of the Tentacle.
Benjamin Franklin is portrayed in a central role in the PBS cartoon Liberty's Kids voiced by Walter Cronkite.
The 2004 movie, National Treasure, has the main characters trying to collect clues left by Benjamin Franklin to discover a treasure that he supposedly hid. The character played by Nicolas Cage was named "Benjamin Franklin Gates", in following with the Gates family tradition to name sons after Franklin and his contemporaries.
The Franklin Templeton Investments firm (originally Franklin Distributors, Inc.) was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin and uses his portrait in their logo.
Franklin was summoned via witchcraft into the twentieth century for a 2-part episode on the TV show Bewitched.
The children's novel, Qwerty Stevens: Stuck in Time with Benjamin Franklin, has the main characters using their time machine to bring Ben Franklin into modern times and then to travel back with him to 1776.
A 1992 Saturday Night Live spoof of Quantum Leap, "Founding Fathers", had Ben Franklin traveling through time with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to help modern day Americans with deficit reduction, only to find twentieth century reporters are only interested in scandal and sensationalism.
The science-fiction TV show Voyagers! had the main characters helping Ben Franklin fly his kite in one episode and save his mother from a fictionalized Salem Witch Trial in the next episode.
Comedian Stephen Colbert interviewed Franklin on his March 1, 2006 show, questioning him about his national bird proposal, his inventions, how he died, and whether he took money from Jack Abramoff.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, the government claims that Benjamin Franklin was the first fireman. In the novel, firemen do not put out fires, but instead start them in order to burn books.
"Julian McGrath," played by Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse, appears as Franklin in a school play in the Adam Sandler comedy Big Daddy.
The city of Philadelphia contains around 5,000 likenesses of Benjamin Franklin—half of which are located on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Additionally, a local actor portrays Franklin in full costume, charging $1,776 for each appearance.
Benjamin Franklin has a small part in the movie Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
The popular television show 'MythBusters' tested Franklin's famous kite experiment with electricity.
The time-travel card game Early American Chrononauts includes a card called Franklin's Kite which players can symbolically acquire from the year 1752.

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