Posted 12 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
I picked up these today. the box is very heavy and i think it's solid silver, but i'm not sure how to be certain. Can anyone give me some tips? I've never bought much silver before, but the price was right, so i got them. these things are all from the house of the elderly picture framer who passed away recently.
the large ladle is marked 1847 Rogers Brothers NS Triple. I assume that it is triple plated. is that right? The box and most of the other flatware is not labled.
Yes, that means that the Rogers spoon is triple plated Nickel Silver.
Here's a link that has some helpful information for testing silver at home.
The spoons in the second photo are very nice, and so are the two small forks in the third photo. The silver box is very attractive. I would test the box for silver content, and the two smaller forks. Great find! You consistently find great things! miKKo
http://www.finishing.com/364/71.shtml
thanks mikkochristmas11. i had a chance to explore them a little more. i definitely think that the box is nickel, although i haven't tested it yet. the ladle on the right is the charter oak pattern - which is very beautiful w/ tiny acorns and beautiful leaves. the other ladle is a strange one. it has a strange bend in the middle of it. it has 4 separated marks on the back - which are very tiny. i can barely make a couple of them out w/ a great big loupe. the first symbol appears to be an iron cross. the second might be a W and the third appears to be an R. The last one is an unusual looking symbol. i just went thru all the american makers and none of them are even close, so i think it's european. each symbol is very separated from the next one, unlike the other american symbols i found. thanks for your help. let me know if you have any more insight.
ho2cultcha, is there any way that you can post a picture of the marks? Even if they can't actually be read, if someone is familiar with them they may be able to figure out what they are. I especially like the pattern on the butter knives. It's elegant but simple which can be a rare combination! :-)
Hi, ho2cultcha! Yes, the Charter Oak serving spoon is stunning! I am charmed and delighted with it!!! : D. The spoon with the lobed bowl and the deep bend puzzles you? It is a ladle. The deep bend would enable it to be inserted or perhaps 'parked' in a bowl with relatively high sides and not flip out. Offhand I don't recognize what it would ladle - cream, mayonnaise, gravy, or something else. Looks too short to be a soup ladle. It is worth remembering that American silver pattern lines of the Gilded Age had a vast number of specialized serving and place pieces that one doesn't find in English or French lines - or in most of the modern American lines. Further, the forms of these utensils very often varied among the different lines, such that a short lobed spoon with a deep bend in one line might be for mayonnaise, and for cream or gravy in another line. If you are assembling a wardrobe of one pattern in one line, it would be well to find the original catalogue issued when the pattern/line was introduced.
RE American marks. The online guides can be helpful, but they are nowhere near as complete as Dorothy T. Rainwater's great guides to American marks: Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers, Dorothy T. Rainwater, 5th edition; American Silverplate, Rainwater, 2000. These are inexpensive books. As for identifying silverware utensil forms and their function, I love "American Silver Flatware, 1837-1910" by Noel D. Turner. Our library has the 1972 edition, and I am lost to time whenever I consult it. It is magnificent beyond belief. There is a much newer, updated, expanded edition. It is very expensive (too expensive for me!), but if you are going to buy old American silver, I recommend that you purchase Turner's book, too, if your library doesn't have a copy. Perhaps the earlier edition(s?) can be had more reasonably. Here's a link to the new edition:
http://www.amazon.com/American-Silver-Flatware-1837-1910-Turner/dp/1556602847
REF chinablue's remarks. Yes, please do try to post the hallmarks if you would like an ID. You take great photos, and perhaps the marks can be enlarged even further. Chinablue is a magician. Regards, miKKo
thanks chinablue. i'll try to get a photo of them, but it's almost like i'm going to need a microscope - they are that small! thanks mikkochristmas11 - for the education.
I've found using a scanner works very well at a high resolution setting, the trick would be placing the ladle so it could be scanned. You might have to hang it over the side, I've used this technique many times.
What an excellent idea, walksoftly!
i've posted the photo of the marks here: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/63511-mystery-silver-hallmarks-and-charter-oak?in=user
Hi, ho2cultcha! Thought you might like to know that I Sears and Roebuck also sold a flatware line in this oak pattern, and that it bore their Paragon hallmark.