Sheffield Plate - Birmingham

[bathrick]

I just purchased a teapot with the words "SHEFFIELD PLATE" on a disk under the lid which holds the wing nut that holds the bone knob on. Underneath the pot in a straight line are the letters G S L in various shields, the Birmingham anchor in a clipped corner rectangle and the letters EP oriented vertically in an oval. All letters are serif. Beneath this nine are the numbers 3251 and beneath that is the number 5.

The decoration on the teapot appears to be hand chased.

Has anyone seen anything that sounds similar? Any ideas who made this? When?

Mike

[bathrick]

Additional information on the above. Based on Henry Veitch's "Sheffield Plate, Its History, Manufacture and Art" as found in Google Books, the style of the teapot appears to be ca. 1780. The screw mentioned in the previous post was hand made as was the wing nut.

In the same book, an Edward Palmer was listed in Birmingham from 1787-1793. Is this a possible match for the EP in an oval?

Mike

[admin]

EP would be for electroplate. The words "Sheffield Plate" on it would tend to indicate 20th century manufacture.

Regards, Tom

[bathrick]

Tom,

While I would tend to agree with you (that was my first interpretation) but the large amount of hand work on the piece has me confused. The chasing definitely has the appearance of having been hand done. The screw and wing nut are definitely hand done - the threads of the screw are irregular, with file marks, the wing nut is filed. The SHEFFIELD PLATE disk used as a washer is obviously late 19th, or early 20th century, but under it the lid shows the marks of where the wing nut was in contact with the lid in the past.

Was this a common forgery technique in the early 20th century?

Mike

[admin]

No reason to assume it is a forgery, handwork is not that uncommon on good quality Georgian style repros. If you'd like some non-conjectural info, a photo of the mark will help take us there.

Regards, Tom

[bathrick]

Tom,

Unfortunately, someone stole my macro lenses, so the photos here will be blurry.



This is a side view of the teapot



A detail of the chasing



Again, sorry for the blurriness. This is the best I could do.

Mike

[bathrick]

Any ideas on the mark? Is it too blurry?

Mike

[admin]

The arrangement and style of the marks and the use of a pattern number is consistent with late nineteenth & early twentieth cent. British silverplate.
Regards, Tom

[bathrick]

Thank you, Tom!

Mike

[Alain]

Hallo Mike,
I have a pot very similar to yours,you can have a look if you go to:
Silverplate - Trademarks - Worldwide.
My post subjet was "Hammond, Creek & Co."
You will see that the lit is almost identical to yours, and the general look of the pot too.
Greetings, Alain

[bathrick]

Alain, they sure do look similar!

Mike

[2209patrick]

I'm not 100% sure, but that might be a silverplate mark used by George Shadford Lee of Lee & Wigfull, Sheffield, England.
Notice the similarity of the shield marks in the first Lee & Wigfull mark.

Pat.

[bathrick]

Thanks, Pat - that actually looks like a real possibility! Same shields in same order... By golly, I think you've got it!

Mike