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William Ellerby is also recorded as a marker of Soldered Plate otherwise Close Plate. Bradbury p445 gives him dates from 1803 although Bissets "Magnificent Directory of Birmingham" of c 1799/1800 records him at 8 Ave Maria Lane as an agent for John Barnet, button maker of Snow Hill Birming...

Trev, Wonderful image and information! Amazing to see the Hands both named and dated and to realise their age when they started work. Any takers today for working full time in the trade from age 9! Burnisherboy.

An appeal for sightings of a mark which is suggested by the following advertisment in the Morning Post of 24th December 1807. "New Manufacture J Beauchamp, Silversmith No 14 Holborn , begs to introduce to the notice of Captains, tavern Keepers and the public in general his Soup Ladles Fish Kniv...

Thanks so much for a most informative post concerning your ancestor. A large advert placed by him in the Morning Post of the 18th November 1815 is of great interest in detailing at great length his prices for both Sheffield and soldered plate. John Hawkins Barlow registration of a mark, move to reta...

I note the mark of J and G Fearn, London, who registered a mark at Sheffield in 1823. Their mark consists of their initials and the addition of a letter which could be taken to be an upper case roman i or possibly an L for london. I assume they were cutlers but would be interested to know other reas...

What is or was a "tea board" as patented by Playfair? The London based pearl worker and goldsmith John Hawkins Barlow also entered a patent in 1816 concerning tea boards and other items. Burnisherboy

There may well be a "name mix" but numerous contemorary directories and newspapers all record Wolstenholme. Do not trust much later works who seem to be only to happy to repeat and copy without checking! There are a number of other variations of trade names which can cause confusion. A goo...

The correct spelling is Wolstenholme. My mistake as per earlier post. An 1839 advert suggests the firm was founded in 1821. Burnisherboy

A Boxing Day whoops! Joseph Wolstenholme of Broad Street, Park who also entered a mark for silver at Sheffield in 1850.

It may be that the date of the slice should be c 1845-50 and indeed by a Sheffield maker. There seem to be large numbers of this particular design around and I wonder has anyone ever tabulated the various symbols used by Woolstenholme? The wrigglework engraving , piercing and stamping common to them...

GREER, JOHN. Entered a mark as a small worker 17th September 1791, address 13 Ludgate Street. Grimwade 1337. Greer was a working cutler and became Master of the London Cutlers' Company in 1812. A notice of the sale of his stock in trade in 1821, Morning Chronicle 07th July 1821, makes no mention of ...

Pro's in the UK call them bruises! If you use a spoon make sure it is hardwood and a little less curved than the profile of the good surface. Good luck, Burnisherboy

A folding knife in the Sheffield Museum collection , (ref 2004.614), once part of the Bill Brown collection is marked Colmore Patent . It is however dated by the experts at Sheffield to 1790 and in "British Cutlery" p 121, to 1791. Both these dates conflict with the idea that Samuel Colmor...

A Charles Kelk, Plater, Pinfold St Birmingham is noted in Wrightsons Triennial Directory for 1815. A Chares Kelk noted as formerly of Birmingham and late of "Burley" St Strand, Silver Plater is recorded as a bankrupt in the London Gazette, 16th June 1821.

The 1823 advert for John Gilbert of 28 Legge St, Birmingham, Plater on Steel, refers to "Improved Forks with Silver Points and Spoons with Silver Edges" Has anybody ever seen an example of either of these useful features marked by Gilbert or anybody else? Burnisherboy

Eternal thanks as ever for all your work! I find page 9 very interesting with its graded prices for ivory handled ware. Should we assume that these were heavily discounted because of oversupply, change of fashion or because the major American market was severely restricted because of the financial c...

One answer to the query as to the mark of William Nash may been found in information already published. John Culme's magisterial work on London makers and markers 1838- 1914 tells us that not only was he described as a silversmith aged 50 in 1841 but also that he registered a mark as a spoon maker i...

Hallo Trev, Of course! Having suggested the initials in a previous post I cannot believe I missed the obvious connection. This would indeed tie in with the 14 year patent of John Hand, however if the handles have a date letter later than 1808 then other possibilities may emerge including the use of ...

These are his Close Plate marks registered in 1808. I have always thought that the J H was a relative in a partnership but so far not sure who. Burnisherboy

Some further thoughts on Colmore's patent. Colemore does not appear in R.B. Prosser's listing of all Birmingham patents from 1722 to 1830. However we find p146 "In 1794, John Hand was granted a patent for a method of plating cutlery by which the operation was performed at a comparatively low he...