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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 Silverplate Forum
 British Sterling, American Coin, Or Silverplate?
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| Author | Topic: British Sterling, American Coin, Or Silverplate? |
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nihontochicken Posts: 289 |
posted 05-24-2004 03:19 PM
  
[19-0442] Here is a strange one. It is one of those spoons that appears to have been, um, "improved" in the Victorian Era with repousse work, including pineapple and other fruit in the bowl, often called a "berry spoon": My question is, what did it most likely start out as? It has no maker or assay mark. It shows a somewhat deep single drop, c.1790?, but the wide, rounded finial is more reminiscent of American Old English Pattern Revival (my term), c.1870. If it is silverplate, there are no wear-throughs apparent. There are traces of gold wash remaining, mostly on the bowl reverse side in the repousse crevices. It seems to have good weight, but I have not as yet calibrated my fingers to differentiate between coin, sterling, and nickel. IP: Logged |
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nihontochicken Posts: 289 |
posted 05-26-2004 07:52 PM
While waiting for a tip, I decided to try to remove a tiny black "tarnish" spot with silver polish. The result of this prompted me to examine the spoon with a 30x loupe. I think I have an answer to my previous question, but it implies something unique of which I was completely unaware. To hint at the solution, and to share this with those collectors most likely to be interested, would it be possible for the moderator to transfer this thread to the Silverplate Forum? TIA! IP: Logged |
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nihontochicken Posts: 289 |
posted 05-26-2004 10:51 PM
Thanks to the moderators for transferring this thread! I had a one-in-three chance of picking the right forum off the bat (poor odds considering Murphy's Law!). As the original entry implies, I have a Victorian era berry spoon "conversion" that, originally, could arguably be c. 1790 Old English Pattern British Sterling (but no hallmarks, and strange upper handle width), c.1790 American coin silver (okay as unmarked, but still strange handle upper end width), or c.1870 silverplate (but why the old style drop?). Well, when I tried to polish away a very small, black "tarnish" spot on the handle edge, it wouldn't go away. So I dug out the 30x loupe, and saw what appears to be a break in a silverplate layer. This implies that the spoon is originally a Victorian base metal (nickel alloy?) piece that was silverplated to mimic what was then the more common practice of taking Old English Pattern (and some Hanoverian Pattern) British sterling spoons and "updating" and "improving" them with "berry spoon" pattern swaging, stamping and incising. Other than the base metal construction and silverplating, this spoon was apparently treated in the same manner as real sterling conversions, in that the major patterns appear to be pressed, the fills are pressed or stamped, and the borders are cut, all by hand. Surprisingly, if this is indeed a "faked conversion" (!!!), there are two stress cracks in the bowl, just behind the rearward most rim pleats, which one would think should have been engineered out prior to production. Can anyone confirm or deny the production of silverplated Victorian era spoons intended to mimic real sterling "berry pattern" conversions? Thanks! IP: Logged |
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adelapt Posts: 418 |
posted 05-27-2004 02:44 AM
Turning plain spoons of no great value (at the time) into "berry spoons" was pretty common in Victorian England (and it still happens). Rather like the later chasing/embossing of plain early Georgian & suchlike vessels (eek). Of course, once manufacturers could see a market developing, they produced electroplated spoons in "berry" style, as well as in the "historismus" vein. The manufacturing costs were of course much lower, so they catered for the wider market at a lower price. IP: Logged |
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nihontochicken Posts: 289 |
posted 05-27-2004 01:09 PM
While I was aware of the late Victorian "berry spoon" cottage conversion business, I was surprised to see that someone actually went to the effort to make silver plate base metal spoon "replicas". Seems like a lot of effort for such a small market. Does anyone know who or what company may have engaged in this "berry spoon conversion silverplate replica" business? IP: Logged |
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