A collection of silver-plated souvenir spoons, while cherished by their collectors, has no real monetary value. They often sell in lots of 25 for $25.

The next item in this series about unloved antiques is mid-20th century silver-plated souvenir spoons. Most owners of these collections think they are quite valuable, often under the impression they are all made of Sterling silver. Most everyone has at least a couple, received as a gift from a traveling relation from some exotic locations such as Topeka, Grand Rapids or Walla Walla.

The problem with these collections starts when you gush with enthusiasm about these gift spoons to your Aunt Hilda or Cousin Jack, who gave you spoon in the first place. They take it as a notion that you really, really like them and continue to send you another spoon every time they make an excursion more than 100 miles from home. Before you know it, the rest of the family catches wind of your desire for these lovely things and join Aunt Hilda in the mission to send you more for holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Easter and even events such christenings.

In estate situations, we have seen some collections reach upwards of 300 of these spoons, hung on kitchen walls where Aunt Hilda & Cousin Jack would see them when they visit. The lovely plywood display racks they are hanging from often being the product of Cousin Jack’s questionable carpentry skills, some holding 50 spoons or more.

Unlike their Sterling silver cousins, which currently have a base silver bullion value of about $30, regardless of where they are from. And in the case of some of the rarer spoon examples, one could expect to sell them for $350 or more. But the virtually identical silver-plated examples—which make up the vast majority—often sell for less than $25 for sets of 25.

An example of a series of silver hallmarks, this one from Glasgow, Scotland.

So, if you have been the longtime recipient of these souvenir spoons, or have inherited them from a family member, how can one tell which is which? It’s quite easy to determine if your spoons are the far more valuable Sterling examples, the difference is that “Sterling Silver” items nearly always have a mark to indicate the silver content of the metal. American examples will be marked “Sterling” or “925” (Sterling silver being 925/1000ths pure silver), while the British and European examples will also be marked to indicate the silver content, with a series of Hallmarks—each country has its own set of stamps to indicate a maker, location and the year made. The silver-plated example this article refers to will have marks such as “EP” (Electroplate), “EPBM” (Electroplated Britannia Metal), “EPNS” (Electroplate on Nickel Silver; nickel silver is a nickel/brass alloy), “EPC” (Electroplated Copper), or “EPWM” (Electroplated White Metal , Triple Plate or A1 plate).

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Previous “Unloved Antiques” articles:

• Unloved Antiques: ‘Limited Edition’ Collectors Plates
• Unloved Antiques: Singer Sewing Machines
• Unloved Antiques: Decorator Prints
• Unloved Antiques: Commemorative Whiskey Decanters
• Unloved Antiques: ‘Bronze’ Flatware
• Unloved Antiques: 1847 Rogers Brothers Flatware
• Unloved Antiques: Hummel Knockoffs
• Unloved Antiques: National Geographic Magazines

Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement.

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The Victorian-meets-Art Deco styling of the Rogers 1847 flatware in the “Adoration” pattern, first made in 1930. While many people have similar sets of “Grandma’s Sterling,” they are seldom worth more than $75-$100.

The sixth item in this series of Unloved Antiques is early 20th century flatware; the 1847 Rogers flatware sets in particular. Such sets were often referred to as “Grandma’s Sterling,” ¹ received as wedding or anniversary gifts after the turn of the 19th century and passed down from mother to daughter to granddaughter.

These sets were seldom ever used, spending whole generations stashed in sideboards beneath the “good china,” used only at Christmas and Easter. Such flatware services were mass produced items, boxed in matched sets of six to 12 place settings, with the better ones having serving utensils and a carving set included. Virtually every major American silver company produced flatware lines of both Sterling silver and silver electroplate in multiple patterns. Of these companies, the Rogers Brothers name is probably the best known, having produced more than 100 known patterns under the Rogers’ 1847 trademark.

A close-up of the 1847 Rogers Bros. mark.

The first problem—as far as value is concerned—starts with their company trademark, “1847 Rogers.” To many, such a mark appears as a guarantee the set is very old, as many a client has told me in the past:

“See? It says right here it was made in 1847” or

“It must have been in the family for more than 150 years.”

This set came with a velvet/satin lined case. It have places settings for 12, along with several serving pieces.

Unfortunately, like a lot of marks of this type, they only indicate the date the company was founded and not the date the set was actually made. The second problem is that, although Rogers Brothers as a company does date back to 1847, this same mark (with minor variations) has been used by three companies: the original Rogers Brothers; Meriden Britannia company; and International Silver Co.

The “Rogers Bros.” trademark was taken over by the Meriden Britannia company after they purchased the Rogers Brothers company in 1862 and used to at least 1898. The mark moved on again when Meriden Britannia merged with a number of other silver companies to form the International Silver Company in 1898. The “Rogers 1847” marking was used on International’s high-grade silver plate into the late 20th century.

The set above—a mix of Victorian and Art Deco styling in a velvet/satin lined case—is typical of Rogers 1847 patterns made during the 1930s. This particular pattern is the very popular “Adoration” pattern, first made in 1930. The set, containing 87 pieces, has place settings for 12 and as can be seen in the images is in “as new” condition, as far as anything of this age can be, that is.

In the current market, any silver electroplated services like this that was made before the Second World War often fail to bring bids of $200 at auction. This particular set only managed to get bids up to $75, missing its reserve of $150 and failed to sell.

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¹ “Grandma’s Sterling,” is often loosely applied by family members to include all forms of silvery-looking cutlery and hollowware, such as tea services that are not Sterling silver, but silver-plate-over-copper or Britannia metal. Sterling silver is 925/1000ths parts pure silver. Twentieth-century American Sterling silver will be marked to indicate this with a numerical mark such as
“925” or with the word “Sterling.” One should always carefully examine any silver item for either of these marks, due to the current high price for scrap silver, Sterling silver sets of the same size as silver electroplated one shown above routinely sell at auction for more than $2,500.

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Previous “Unloved Antiques” articles:

• Unloved Antiques: ‘Limited Edition’ Collectors Plates
• Unloved Antiques: Singer Sewing Machines
• Unloved Antiques: Decorator Prints
• Unloved Antiques: Commemorative Whiskey Decanters
• Unloved Antiques: ‘Bronze’ Flatware

Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement.

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A Duragold place setting.

The fifth item in this series of “Unloved Antiques” is Thai “bronze” flatware. While it’s often listed for sale online as “gold plated” or “solid bronze,” it’s most likely based on a nickel/bronze alloy first created and marketed as “Duragold” by Swedish Metallurgist Carl Molin, circa 1914¹. It’s not known if the Thai flat ware uses the identical formula as the original Duragold/Dirilyte sets, but it is often listed as “nickel bronze alloy” in the literature/labeling, and has the same general appearance.

Some evidence places the origins of the Thai bronze flatware back as far as the 1930s, based on the marking “Siam,” as Thailand was officially known until 1939, but the majority we see appear to date from the Vietnam Era. Such sets were marketed in cities such Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong, widely purchased by U.S and other troops and sailors stationed in the area from the Korean War through to the end of the Vietnam War. Such sets are still in production; the new market now being tourists and export rather than sailors or returning troops.

To the recipients of this flatware in 1950s & ’60s America, it was seen as exotic-looking and often deemed “for special to use.” Many sets that we have appraised over the years do not appear to have been opened, let alone used, since they were first received during the mid-1960s, packed away with other things thought “to be worth a lot of money someday.” Now, some 45 years later, they are all surfacing as their original owners downsize or their children clear the estate. Most are very surprised to find—when these sets are dragged once more into the daylight—that they not rare and as exotic as first thought, nor as valuable as Grandma thought they would be. In today’s market, dozens of these sets are listed at auction sites every day, this past year even large boxed services like the one above, with 150-plus pieces in mint condition, have sold at auction in the $50-$150 range.

Many Duragold sets have been opened, let alone used, since they were first received during the mid-1960s, packed away with other things thought “to be worth a lot of money someday.”

¹Carl Molin’s Swedish plant company began production in 1919 and demand was such it was decided an American factory should be built in 1926. The “Duragold” name ruffled the feathers of the Federal Trade Commission in 1935, the commission claiming the name was misleading as there was no gold content in the cutlery. To avoid conflict and needless expense, “Duragold” became “Dirilyte” and the company operated under that name until 1986 when it ceased production of cutlery and hollowware.

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Previous “Unloved Antiques” articles:

• Unloved Antiques: ‘Limited Edition’ Collectors Plates
• Unloved Antiques: Singer Sewing Machines
• Unloved Antiques: Decorator Prints
• Unloved Antiques: Commemorative Whiskey Decanters

Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement.

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Elegant Opaline glass & silverplated butter keeper, circa 1870, in Classical Taste by Joseph Rogers of Sheffield, England.

Boulsover discovered that when sterling silver is fused to copper the two metals are identically malleable. One could pound out a piece and have the silver and copper retain the same geometric ratio to one another as the metal was worked. This led rather quickly to the development of a very large industry based on the fusing of ingots of sterling silver to one or both sides of ingots of copper. The new merchant class—and down on their luck members of the aristocracy—could now have terrific pieces of hollowware that appeared to be made from sterling silver but were in fact made of thinly veiled copper!

The keys to identifying Sheffield silver are strictly related to the method of its manufacture and the need to disguise the underlying copper. Because the silver, not the labor, was the expensive part of the process, large pieces of Sheffield silver were tinned rather than silvered, on unseen surfaces.

Areas such as the inside of a meat over or the bottom of a large tray, even the bottom of a large tureen, will often be tinned, not plated. When you find such a tinned area on a piece you know for a fact that it is old Sheffield plate, unless it’s a tinned bottom added to electroplate with rolled edges. Than you have a fake Sheffield!

Another major characteristic of Sheffield plate is that all exposed edges must be covered with a rim of silver, otherwise the copper middle layer would show through, giving away the fact that the piece is not sterling silver. This is referred to as a wrapped edge. Either one of two processes were used: the applied silver decorative motif was bent over the edge; or a thin silver band was wrapped and fused around the edge. In both cases you can get a fingernail virtually under this edge. You will also find a seam where the ends of the strip of silver or applied moldings meet.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, most families purchasing large pieces of hollowware had their family crest engraved on the item. If you were to engrave a piece of Sheffield plate, the copper would show because of the thinness of the silver layer, Engraving shields or plaques were therefore inlaid into the side of the piece in the appropriate spot for engraving, If you blow air either at the engraved area or at the appropriate areas on an un-engraved piece, the engraving shield will “jump out” at you. This is caused by the differing rates of condensation on the solid silver plaque versus the plated areas. Any piece with an engraving plaque will invariably turn out to be Sheffield plate.

On any item formed out of a cylinder of metal, such as candlesticks, pots, vases and so on, the metal was joined together by crimping or dovetailing. This left an obvious seam, often with a little copper showing. Originally this was carefully burnished, but with a couple hundred years of wear and tear, you can often spot such seams. The presence of these seams is a guarantee that the items are old Sheffield.

Pair of late 18th century Sheffield Plate Candlesticks engraved with a shaft of wheat and inscribed with the Latin words, “Sapiens Qui Assiduus,” which means “He who is wise is industrious.”

There were many fascinating processes involved in the making of fused plate, well beyond those mentioned here. They do not, however, leave any telltale marks that specifically identify a piece as Sheffield plate as opposed to solid silver or electroplate. You can learn most readily about those processes by reading the major books that details all of the processes involved in the creation of fused plate.

The value determinants of Sheffield silver are similar to those for all antiques, but with some exceptions. Aesthetic factors are identical to those for similar pieces of sterling silver. Provenance and rarity also have an impact on value. The originality of the pieces making up a multi-part piece, such as covered vegetable or entree dish with a separate water reservoir, is crucial to value on Sheffield pieces, as it is to all sterling or electroplated items.

Anything made in multiples and of more than one part had each separate piece numbered in a series. Thus, you would have cover, dish and under tray number one, number two and so on. Because the pieces were not always perfectly compatible, the numbering system allowed servants to get the correct cover on the correct base. If the pieces no longer are three to three, or one to one, but are cover three with base four, then an incestuous relationship has developed, and the value is no more than 75 percent of a completely original piece. Marriages of work by two makers would have even less value, perhaps only 25 percent of the value of a perfect piece.

Approximately 90 percent of Sheffield silver pieces are completely unmarked. In fact, the lack of marks can often make one first think an item might be a piece of Sheffield plate. In the very early days a few makers put on pseudo-hallmarks to suggest the high quality of their goods. The guilds of silversmiths sent up an immediate howl and Parliament quickly established severe penalties for the hallmarking of plated wares. As the companies making Sheffield plate grew stronger, they began to lobby for some allowable marking systems, and the end result was that either the name or a small symbol could be used as an identification device. Because marked pieces are rare, a premium of 25 percent or more adheres to a marked price over an identical unmarked piece.

Regency period (circa 1810-1820) Old Sheffield Plate tea caddy. This pieces shows quite a lot of bleeding (wear to top of lid) where the copper is showing through.

Finally, and of utmost importance to value, is the level of originality of the actual plating. Old Sheffield silver is often in remarkably good condition with little or no bleeding (copper showing through). This is because it is the unique property of Sheffield plate that it is sterling silver over copper (not pure silver, as is the case with both close plate and electroplate). Remember, sterling is an alloy and the point of making an alloy is that it is hundreds of times more durable than pure silver: Whereas as pure silver wears away quickly with regular polishing, sterling wears away very, very slowly.

Related to this condition problem is the question of electroplating old Sheffield plate. Never do it unless the condition is so bad that the piece has no value as an antique. Electroplating adds a process totally foreign to the early piece, and it covers the mellow sterling with the more harshly colored pure silver.

In approximately 1840, the Elkington Company of Birmingham England, began production of electroplated silver. They had cleverly bought up all patent rights related to the experimentation then taking place throughout England in addition to their own work. This far simpler method—by which a completed base metal object is suspended in a vat, a charge introduced, and pure silver fused onto all surfaces—quickly put the old method out of business.

Electroplated wares are coated with a thin layer of pure silver, which, as noted earlier, wears away far more quickly than an alloy would. The base metal also impact on adherence, the preferable based metals being copper, brass or nickel-brass alloy (commonly called nickel silver). Britannia and other similar white metals are inferior because they lose their shape more readily and because they provide a poor base for the silver to adhere to.

Sheffield plate Corinthian column candlesticks, made by Hawksworth & Eyre, Sheffield, England, circa 1870's. This is an example of electroplate.

Electroplated items lack all of the distinctive aspects discussed in the Sheffield section. They are commonly marked by their makers and usually have marks indicating the quality of the plating and the type of base metal. Marks commonly seen include EP (electroplate), EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), EPBM (electroplated Britannia metal), A-1, quadruple plate, triple plate, and so on. As with all silver, value is influenced by age, rarity, desirability of style and type, provenance, condition, and additionally, by base metal used.

Because they were competing with the old Sheffield platters who had earned wonderful reputations for the fine quality, the electroplating companies have often used the word Sheffield in their company names or as a descriptive adjective for their plating. Thus one sees on objects such words and phrases as “Sheffield, England,” “Sheffield Silver on Copper,” “Sheffield plate,” “Sheffield silver,” and so on. In each and every instance the word “Sheffield” on a piece of silver is your absolute, iron clad guarantee that the piece is electroplate, having nothing in common with the magnificent pieces of genuine old Sheffield plate.

— by David Lindquist

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David Lindquist co-owns Whitehall at the Villa Antiques and Fine Arts in Chapel Hill, N.C., and is a nationally recognized lecturer, appraiser, author, editor and broadcaster.

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A genuine English Hallmark

To the average person, Coin or Sterling silver don’t look much different than silverplate pieces, but where the difference lies is in the markings. By international convention, most countries have laws regarding the marking of precious metals such as silver and gold, generally referred to as “Hallmarks”—stamped marks from which the purity, the maker, city and date can be determined. Hall Marks had their origins in England, where all silver has been marked since the 14th century, and are a great aid in determining the history of a piece today. American silver is often marked with the word “Sterling” (925/1000ths. pure silver), “Coin” (800/1000ths. pure silver) or with numerical markings that indicate the same thing “925″ or “800.”

An example of a psuedo hallmark

Where the trouble started was when late 19th century makers of American silverplate began to realize they could improve their sales if they marked their products in a similar way to English hallmarks, such marks giving the impression of quality “just like Sterling.” Today, Appraisers and Dealers refer to these as “Pseudo Hallmarks,” which take many forms, but they generally appear as two or five punched marks in Old English script.

The wonderful thing about them though is they actually spell out their true metal content, as can be decoded as shown below. So if your “Silverware” has any of the markings listed below you can rest assured it’s not “Sterling”

EP - Electroplate
EPBM - Electroplated Britannia Metal
EPNS - Electroplate on Nickel Silver (nickel silver is a nickel/brass alloy)
EPC - Electroplated Copper
EPWM - Electroplated White Metal
EPNS-WMM - Electroplated Nickel Silver with White Metal Mounts

Photographs courtesy of www.silvercollection.it

Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement.

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In general, the term Sterling Silver is meant to distinguish items that are composed of mostly solid silver as opposed to Silver-Plated that have only a thin surface layer of silver. However, there are several other distinctions, some using terms that can be confusing and often lead to a misunderstanding of an item’s composition and hence its value.

One of the most important metallurgical terms that are also used in Antique and Modern Silver are the words ALLOY and PLATED. Alloy refers to a composite metal that consists of two or more distinct pure metals that are fused together so as to make them inseparable by mechanical means. Plated on the other hand, refers to metals that have a layer deposited and adhered to a Base Metal to give it the appearance that the entire item is made of the same material used in its Plating. The base metal for most antique Silver items in today’s market is usually Copper, Nickel Silver, Stainless Steel, Brass, or Bronze.

Sterling Silver is actually an Alloy. Because silver is soft in its purest form, Silversmiths mix silver with copper to make it harder and more durable. Additionally, copper gives the resulting alloy a nicer sheen and is more appealing. This is how the Fineness Hallmarks used on silver have come to have meaning and each country considers certain levels as minimum standards (some changed over time) and are usually enforced when on Jewelry and other Silver items. For example, in the United States the first legal Sterling Silver standard was introduced by Charles Tiffany in 1852 and was soon adopted by the US Federal Government as 0.921 parts of Silver and 0.079 parts of Copper. In the United Kingdom, the Sterling Standard was established much earlier, in 1238 (enforced after 1300), and refers to a minimum of 0.925 parts of Silver and 0.075 parts of Copper. Items made of at least 99% pure silver are usually referred to as Fine Silver. In America, Coin Silver refers to a minimum of 90% silver content.

It is interesting to note that, in spite of its name, Nickel Silver does NOT contain any silver. It is actually an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc in varying proportions, usually 2:1:1 or 3:1:1. It is similar to the Chinese “Paktong” as imported to Europe prior to the 19^th century and until Nickel was more readily available from various Colonies. In the west, it was developed first in Saxe-Meiningen, Germany, in 1824, hence its other name as German Silver. Since then, Nickel Silver is used extensively as a Base Metal on Silver-Plated items hence the common abbreviation EPNS (Electro Plated Nickel Silver) or EPGS (Electro Plated German Silver).

Which brings us to Silver Plating…

A very successful method of Silver Plating was Sheffield Plate, which although already known since antiquity, was formally patented for industrial use by Thomas Bolsover of Sheffield in 1742. The initial name for this method was Copper Rolled Plate, which refers to the basic technique employed at the time of rolling a layer of Silver onto a layer of Copper, sometimes on both sides. This produced a very compact and large silver sheet, usually rolled in ingots, that was still thin enough to be malleable for the Silversmith when forming intricate designs. The term Sheffield Plate became popular ca 1770s and was later referred to as Old Sheffield Plate to distinguish it from other methods developed after 1830s. Initially, the majority of Sheffield plated items had the base metal covered on the external side only (Single Plated) whereas the other side was covered with Tin. However, market demand for Double Plated items, especially on hollowware was soon evident and most specimens surviving today as Antique Sheffield Plate are double plated.

Because of repeated increases of taxation on Solid or Sterling Silver during the period between 1784 to 1815, other promising methods of Silver Plating were soon developed that were less expensive and easier to replicate in industrial quantities. Most of these techniques employed the use of fine and very thin layers of Silver, sometimes referred to as Silver Leaf, that were pressed against the base metal 3-5 layers at a time and then heated and burnished to a smooth finish. Since it took a total of 40 or 60 Silver Leaf layers to get each item ready, this method was still laborious and expensive. This method is now known as French Plating because it was mostly popular amongst French platers during the 18thC. Other similar forms of Silver Plating were also developed around the same time, including Roberts Plate ca 1830, British Plate ca 1835, and Merry Plate in 1936.

However, the most important change in Silver Plating came about with the invention of Electro Plating, a method that simply requires placing the item to be plated along with a small ingot of solid silver in a bath of mild acid and applying electric current. This set-up enabled an evenly uniform deposit of solid silver on the plated item, and varying the current and time during the process, allowed for very precise control in the thickness of the plated silver. Electro Plating was first discovered by John Wright of Birmingham in 1840, but was officially patented by Elkington & Co. around the same time. It has since been in extensive use and has remained the dominant way of Plating Silver to this day. Most Electro-Plated wares have a plating thickness of about 3-30 microns; Flashed or Silver-Wash wares have less then 3 microns.

Silver plated items were not required to have hallmarks by law. However, many companies used their own logos and often included the type of Plating that was used on each piece, usually as initials EPS, EPNS etc. This practice eventually became the norm and now most Silver-Plated items found in the market are marked with their respective maker’s trademarks. Unfortunately, some companies intentionally used marks that were very similar to true Sterling Silver Hallmarks in order to gain market acceptance at the time, but this was only during a very brief early period since authorities and other merchants whose marks were imitated, prosecuted this use.

Finally some other terms related to Silver include:

Standard Silver Plate: The equivalent of using 2 troy ounces of Pure Silver for every 144 Silver spoons being ElectroPlated.

Quadruple Plate: The use of 4 times the Standard electroplating amount of Pure Silver, i.e. 8 oz for every 144 silver spoons

Britannia Silver: A Sterling Silver alloy of 0.9584 Pure Silver Fineness

90g or 90G or G90 or 90 or Hard Plating: Refers to Elctro-Plating of over 30 microns thickness; found mostly on German Cutlery & Utilitarian Flatware ca 1920s onwards.

Alex and Elizabeth are WorthPoint Worthologists.