Roberts & Belk Silver Plate Marks

[Aliballibee]

Afternoon all,

First post and thanks for any assistance that can be provided. I've identified the small cup as Roberts & Belk and found a similar image of the hallmarking but could someone kindly inform on the actual marks, which I couldn't find anywhere. They are:

1st indicator - R&B - Roberts & Belk
2nd Indicator - Is this an "S" for Silver?
3rd Indicator - Are these stylised "EP" for Electroplate
4th Indicator - Welsh "fleur de lis" - why this symbol?

I presume the numbers are a catalogue reference or production number.

Lastly, silver hallmarking provides a date reference, how do you date this?

Many thanks and kind regards

Alan T

[Aliballibee]

Apologies - forgot to add images:





Thanks - Alan

[silvermakersmarks]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Your images are not showing.

https://postimages.org is recommended (click 'Share', then copy and paste the 'Hotlink for forums' code to embed your images). Do not use Photobucket or Dropbox.

Phil

[Aliballibee]

Thanks Phil

Hopefully these work now:





I can't seem to find an "edit" point on the forum, to amend an entry. I realised I hit send too quickly without adding the images.

Many thanks

Alan

[silvermakersmarks]

R&B is for Roberts & Belk and the gothic / Old English letters are EP for electroplate. However the S is normally thought to be for Sheffield. The fleur-de-lis is part of R&B's trade-marking system, as is the oil lamp. The number 1386 is indeed some sort of factory identification number. As you point out it is possible to date silver using the hallmarking system. However electroplate is not subject to this system and the marking is done by the manufacturer so is not a hallmark. This also means that there is, in general, no easy way of dating electroplate.

There is no facility in this forum for editing published posts (except of course for admin/moderators).

Phil

[Aliballibee]

R&B is for Roberts & Belk and the gothic / Old English letters are EP for electroplate. However the S is normally thought to be for Sheffield. The fleur-de-lis is part of R&B's trade-marking system, as is the oil lamp. The number 1386 is indeed some sort of factory identification number. As you point out it is possible to date silver using the hallmarking system. However electroplate is not subject to this system and the marking is done by the manufacturer so is not a hallmark. This also means that there is, in general, no easy way of dating electroplate.

There is no facility in this forum for editing published posts (except of course for admin/moderators).

Phil

Hi Phil - thanks for the help with the images and the information on the little cup. It polished up rather nicely and my wife is very happy with it.

Alan