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Whats your collecting passion? sports memorabilia, furniture, the movies, jewelry, lamps, carnival glass, silverware, dishes, ceramics, lamps or..........
Silver Collecting
* Hallmarks
A faked hallmark will appear soft
around the edges when compared
to a real one. They may be faked
or altered to enhance the value of
a piece.
* When looking at a piece, check
for any markings. Britain typically
used 4 marks.
* Each mark has its own meaning.
It tell you when, by who, where made
and by what standard of silver.
*For insatnce a lion, a rooster, a
crowned harp, a crown, or some
other typeof symbol have a meaning.
* The shape of handle can hold
clues to age as well. Solid silver
or some other type of material
such as wood, bone, or ivory.
* If decorated, what is the tech-
nique used..Embossed, chasing,
enameling, cut to reflect light?
( an angle cut easily worn through
from over polishing)
* Candlesticks from the 1770s, Old Sheffield candelabra
using mechanization could be
stamped out from thin sheets of
silver, then weighted (loaded)
internally for support, which feels
as heavy as a cast one. When the a
cast candlestick is turned upside
down it is hollow while a loaded
one has a metal plate and is inset
with a wooden base to hold the
filling.
Antique silver-plate---electroplate
* With the price of silver being very
expensive in the 18th century, and
the demand being high, a cheaper
alternative needed to be found.
Thomas Boulsover discovered the
method of fusing copper and silver
with heat (silver-plate). Rolling the
fused metal into a sheet, then forming
it into an object.
Old Sheffield silver plate was used
from the 1750s to the 1840s. Made in
Sheffield, city of Birmingham, and
in Russia.
* Electroplating was introduced in
the 1830s by Elkington and Co.
The process involved depositing a
thin layer of silver onto a base metal
by electrolysis. Within 10 years it
had replaced the Old Sheffield silver
plate method.
* The wear and tear on silver plate
from Old Sheffield 18th century
candlesticks for instance can be seen
today as the servants of that time over
cleaned, easily wearing down the
silver exposing the copper beneath.
