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Church selling silver, at a cost

First Parish in Dorchester makes painful decision to auction prized collection for needed renovations

By Meghan E. Irons

 |  Globe Staff  

  December 22, 2011

The silver collection resided at First Parish Church of Dorchester for more than three centuries, a trove of 17th and 18th century beakers, chalices, and tankards that hark back to a nascent community and the early silversmiths that helped hone it. Now Boston’s oldest congregation is parting with its prized collection, with hopes of reaping up to $3 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York next month to pay for the restoration of its crumbling church building and help the Bowdoin-Geneva community it serves.

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