American Coffee Pots - unidentified assay marks

[Thos B]

Hi. I bought this rather nice set of coffee jugs, second-hand, a few years ago in the States but I've never been able to work out exactly what the marks mean and if they're solid silver or not. They polish, look and feel like silver and they tarnish like silver. I've included the marks from one of the smaller pots (8 oz) and the larger one (32 oz) in the hope that someone might be able to help.

Many thanks.

Regards,

- Tom.
London, England

[byron mac donald]

Hi Tom-
I found this on a connecticut site, hope this helps.


During the 19th century, Wallingford industry expanded with a considerable concentration of small pewter and Britannia ware manufacturers. By mid-century, Robert Wallace acquired the formula for nickel silver and established with Samuel Simpson, R. Wallace & Company the forerunner of Wallace Silversmiths. It was also during this period that many of the small silver and Britannia plants were combined to form the International Silver Co. with its headquarters in Meriden and several plants in Wallingford.

Wallingford Connecticut

[2209patrick]

American silver produced after roughly 1860 will be marked sterling or .925.
Since your items don't have these marks, they are silverplated.

The International Silver Company was formed in 1898 by a merger of several silver companies.
International Silver continued to use the trademarks of its predecessors for many years.
In 1921 they started to use the half-circle mark. This included both the original firm and International's name.
Sometime after 1928 they started stamping some pieces just International Silver.
They did continue to use the 1847 Rogers Bros., EG Webster, Forbes and Wilcox trademarks (for example) after 1928.

Pat.

[dragonflywink]

Those are restaurant/hotel ware pieces, the plating is quite thick to withstand heavy use and harsh cleaning. That insulated handle was patented in the late 1920s, the designs like yours were produced with little change for many years.

~Cheryl