"A Gift From the Ownery". If you found this engraved...?

Question

"A Gift From The Ownery". Found engraved on an 18th century silver cup, together with a picture of a ship. What would you make of this?

Answer 1

An indentured servant could work off the debt of ownership that they had submitted themselves to, and become a free citizen again.

I would think that this could have been a gift marking just such an occasion for a favoured servant from their former owner, who was moving to America to start a new life.

Answer 2

The Oxford English Dictionary does not list "ownery" as a word. However it is a surname.