Posted 12 years ago
jahnkekong
(8 items)
Found this today at a goodwill, thought it must have been pewter, but then I noticed a hallmark hidden off to the side. Anyone know anything about this? It's very pretty. About the size of my palm. It says in very fine letters MA SFF under the hallmark. Any advice on whether it not to clean would be appreciated too. It's very tarnished. Either way a good find at two dollars!
Better pics would help. Can you re-take the hallmark? What does the hallmark above the MA SFF say or depict? Is that a number 372 I see?
Celiene, I hope this are a little better, its hard for me to get the hallmark in focus. If not, I will try and get a picture tomorrow when I have more light. At first I thought the hallmark said WH MFC CO but after soaking it in some soapy water, it looks to me like its a WB MFC CO and its in some sort of shield looking enclosure.
Also I can now see its MP - SF4 below the hallmark in very, very fine lines.
Lastly, you are correct, number 372 is also seen to the right.
Any ideas?
thanks strawberry, I think you are right! Really cool to find something this old at a thrift shop!
I'm curious what the MP SF4 stand for. I'm guessing the 372 is the pattern number now, I thought it was some kind of silver weight or something like that.
Its missing the lining. I've looked at quite a few weidlich boxes over the last few days, and I don't think any of them are quite as lovely as mine. Not that I'm biased :)
Hi jahnkekong. Check out The Jewel Box Book online. Joanne, the author, is a great collector and source of information on these American jewelry boxes. I have a few pieces myself though I prefer the ring-sized versions. I believe Joanne has an account in here so you can reach out to her directly. Best of luck!
It is silver plated.
THE WEIDLICH BROS MFG CO - Bridgeport, CT
Founded in 1901. Out of business in 1950
Here's a great resource for silver & silver plate marks from around the world:
http://www.silvercollection.it/AMERICANSILVERPLATEMARKSG.html
thanks cjgoet and mary -- cjgoet, sorry for the late reply, I saw a few of the ring boxes while doing the research for this, and think they are just great. Mary, thanks for the website, someone else also identified it as weidlich in this thread, but oddly enough their comment has disappeared. I worked on removing some of the tarnish on this box and boy is it a lot of work. And unpleasant fumes! I can see why it got tarnished in the first place, lol!