antique toastrack- american or sheffield plate???

[garth]

Hi, could someone help me before the rest of my hair falls out.

This toastrack has copper patches in the base, that do not look like wear marks, so I was wondering whether it was sheffield plate or not. It is of a simple georgian design with ball feet.

(I assumed ep would just be plated over, but the ball feet seem to be formed, then filled in)

Cheers,
Garth

[Neruda]

One possibility is John Biggin of Sheffield, active in the second half of the 19th century.

Your toast-rack is electro-plated (the initials EP) - Sheffield Plate is often used to describe a technique where a layer of silver was fused over a layer of copper, and was popular in the latter 18th and early 19th centuries.