In 1806, Thomas Jefferson was bequeathed two silver cups by his friend and teacher George Wythe. Several years later, Jefferson sent the Wythe cups and two others to John Letelier, a Richmond, Virginia silversmith. He directed that the cups be melted down and made into eight smaller cups similar to a model which he had enclosed. They were to be gilded inside and four marked in the cypher style with "G.W. to T.J." and four marked "T.J."

The completed cups were received at Monticello in 1810 and were used there until Jefferson's death in 1826. Four of the original eight Jefferson cups, which descended through Jefferson's grandchildren, are presently in the Monticello collection.