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Whoops! No posse of platers visited London in 1831, Just Mr Hutton as one of, if not the leading plater from Birmingham . Sorry for the mistake. Davesays

Hallo Mike, Thank you so much for the fantastic post. You must have a remarkable Hutton archive and I look forward with great interest to future contributions. Do you have a list of the Birmingham platers who came to London in 1831? Thanks again, Davesays

Great to have a Hutton descendant in the forum and sharing all this wonderful detail. The Huttons were in the top tier of platers on steel and other metals and the family connections noted confirm their importance. I wonder if the B P referred to as part of a later mark was British Plate, a nickel b...

Mike , Many thanks for the extra information posted re: Thomas Prime. Bradbury p451, give the unregistered marks of J rather than T Prime but no other source. If Thomas Senior had started in 1818 age 21 perhaps it was with his father. He or they must have been active platers long before the introduc...

Thomas Prime of Birmingham. I wonder if there is any connection with the Joseph Prime who is noted in Gordon Crosskeys wonderful new work on Sheffield Plate. He notes him as a London ironmonger at 85 Holborn and customer of Sheffield plater Joseph Wilson. Thomas Prime's Birmingham firm was founded 1...

Trev, Many thanks for suggesting approaches to handle repairs. Rather than give what could be, literally, a blow by blow account of the process I would urge caution to forum members and others when it come to unloading handles in general. "Go to a professional", well he would say that woul...

Interesting comments about loose tangs in handles. The "glue" would have been cutlers wax made of various formulations of resin and other materials. If a hole was made in the loading and filled with an inert glue there would be big problems the next person to deal with a loose handle. I es...

Further to the last post it may be that the distinct grey apperance to the ring terminal is not a steel core but a shadow! Other comments stand with the addition that if it is silver the ring may require annealing the next time. davesays

Hallo! From the excellent photo posted it looks if the skewer may be close plated. (Silver on steel) As there was no need to temper or harden the handle many of these examples show misshaped terminals. A date of c 1810 may be suggested although the style is long lived alongside sterling examples. Ru...

Hallo! Saw this post and thought you might be interested in the following. Some years ago I made a small contribution to the "new" Jacksons. This was on Guildford silversmiths and I still hope to publish a more definitive work on the subject.. Among the research of many years ago I made co...

Excellent views of the Freeth caddy spoon. Would it possible to run a fridge or other magnet over it to confirm the base metal? I assume it is plated on steel but it would be nice to confirm this or not. The possible date letter is interesting as it suggests another maker was involved in their use i...

One further thought about the rise in Birmingham registration in 1807. Bernard Hughes, Antique Sheffield plate 1970, p 12 suggests that the platers applied to "The Assay Office" for permission to strike marks on their wares and also suggests that this was granted in 1806! This would help t...

Hallo Dognose, Many thanks for your reply to this query. I was thinking along the lines that, as shown on the photo of the set of knives, Colmore at least on these examples, used or caused to be used a soft solder to adhere the silver foil. Ellis describes what are obviously recipes for grades of ha...

Many thanks for the exellent views of these knives. What was Colmore's patent? How did it vary from that of Ellis of London entered in 1779. It has been suggested to me that Colmore's Patent effectively shut out other close platers until 1807 when we see the rush to register under the 1784 Act . Are...

Hallo! First post. Could this be an unregistered mark of the Birmingham plater Joseph Shepard ? The J may be a human ear! The other mark may be the ear mark overstruck with another. davesays