Cutlery Wm. A. Rogers Sterling

[Traintime]

I'm guessing this carving knife is in the Oneida Silversmiths era, but they chose only to use the Wm. A. Rogers brand name and no other. Ferrule and end cap are both simply marked "Sterling". Blade is stainless. Handle has mold lines, so faux bone from one of the various plastics. Oneida is huge and complex, but do we need to technically consider Wm A. Rodgers as a sterling maker in addition to being a plater mark?

[Traintime]

This gets better...There is a on-line record of a 2011 listing of an 1881 Rogers Croydon Sterling Teapot. Now, I've seen the word Croydon being referred to as Oneida related (possibly a line name). So, does this mean the Wm. A. Rogers silverplate line of "1881 Rogers" also becomes a sterling line under Oneida? And to complicate this more (a photo will be posted in another entry), I have a filled/weighted tall sterling candlestick "by Croydon"...more Oneida??!

[legrandmogol]

Hi, while it is possible there is a sterling line, this would not be part of it. Finding knives, carving sets and other flatware with sterling ferrules/collars but stainless blades and bone/MOP/etc handles is very common and does not indicate a separate line. It is even possible that only the blade was made by Rogers and the rest was assembled by an entirely different company that simply bought their blades from Rogers. The only way to determine who made this piece would be to find the original box or a catalog/advertisement.

[dragonflywink]

As already suggested, while possible that this was made and sold by Wm. A. Rogers, seems more likely that the blade was made by them, with the sterling ferrule and handle (which appears to be faux stag-horn) made by other manufacturers. Stainless steel came into common use not too long after WWI ended, well before Oneida acquired Wm. A. Rogers, so dating to before or after becoming a part of Oneida would be difficult.

Wm. A. Rogers was a silverplate and cutlery manufacturer, and '1881 Rogers', which dates to the first few years of the 20th century, is quite simply, a silverplate mark (and much later, stainless flatware) - the so-called 'Sterling' Croydon teapot that sold for a way too high price makes me cringe a bit, the buyer apparently purchased on the word of the seller, that it was, "tested by qualified jeweler and tested as sterling silver", though there was no mention of a 'Sterling' mark. The 1881 Rogers 'Croyden' line of silverplate holloware dates to the mid 1950s or later.

There was a 'Croydon' AKA 'Mary Lee' Wm. A. Rogers flatware pattern produced in the 1930s, it was offered as a premium by the Old Dutch Cleanser company, and the pattern also appears with the Oneida 'Capital Plate' mark. The Oneida silverplate 'Croydon' flatware is a fairly recent Foodservice pattern, still available. Pairpoint also introduced an interesting multi-motif 'Croyden' pattern in 1887.

So far as I know, 'Croydon' sterling holloware is one of numerous unidentified mid 20th century silver manufacturers, it may have been produced by a jobber or even a large manufacturer as a retailer's house line, suppose there's a remote possibility that it was connected to Oneida, but seriously doubt it...

~Cheryl

[Traintime]

Thanks to you both for adding this material to the site. Yes, Cheryl, that listing (a ghost description w/o photos now) made me wonder too about the lone buyer who jumped on it. Will go ahead and post the Croydon candle separately just so we have the mark on record.