posted 12-16-2005 08:08 AM            

Hi,

can anyone tell me more about this mark?

It is little bit worn and the letters are not clear.

This is big silver plated serving tray.

Thank you!

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posted 12-24-2005 09:25 PM            

The tray appears from the photograph to have a grape leaf motif. This has been a constant feature of plated ware from the beginning. The design does not date the piece. Nor does the style. It is a traditional item made in the last 160 years. From the way the mark is put together, it appears to date from the earlier years of plated ware.

What size is it? Does it measure more evenly in English or Metric? Are there signs of hand crimping on the rim?

Reading marks on silverplate is to my mind usually an excercise in futility. The well known makers marks are relatively easy to know. At least the American ones. The English marks frequently refer to very small makers whose names are more or less lost to us. The European ones are pretty much the same. The major ones are known, the rest are more or less a blur.

posted 12-24-2005 09:48 PM            

Sometimes these trays come with a recognizable maker's mark. IMHE, usually they don't. There is a mark, which is frequently unknown. AFAICT, this is because the trays were made up not for a silver seller, in which case they would have a comprehensible mark, but for another type of business. And that kind of mark is very hard to trace. It can be a private label used by a ceramic or glass maker for their own line. Or it can be a lable sold only through specialized retailers like china shops. Or it can be a lable that was owned by a department store. I have seen enough department store silver that looked alike but had varied labels to realize that these were made by the same maker but with different retailers in mind.

Trays are hard to identify, outside the sterling types. Major marks are known and understood. Minor ones are really sort of a mystery.