www.925-1000.com

Hi guys.

I found an old silver Tea set, it looks pretty old. Can't photograph the makers' mark because they are inside the stems of the creamer, sugar bowl, etc. I have no idea if it's silverplate or sterling. It is not magnetic. Local coin dealer says "if it doesn't have 925 on it, it's not sterling". I'm not sure if I believe that. Anyway, click on this link to see some (crude) pics. Any help with ID/time period/style would be appreciated. I am a first timer, so please forgive if I'm posting in the wrong area. Thanks. Jim K.

www.jkpics.com/silvertray

PS - if you look really hard on the blown-up picture of the tray handle, you can faintly see the "W", just above the bright reflection on the tray , but below the little dot. It actually says "S&S" above the W, but it's smaller and you can't really make it out. BTW, the ampersand looks like an 8 with a lower case "c" attached to the lower circle. I looked up different ampersands on Adobe fonts and the closet I could find was Italian?

I hope this post works. I tried last night and I don't think it worked.

Draw the marks on a piece of paper, photograph them and submit.

I am sorry, I had to look at them with a pocket microscope and try to draw them. The drawings are not very good. My drawings make them look as if they were in Italics. The real marks are not slanted at all.

Cup, bowl, and serving tray had W below S&S
Only the biscuit tray ahd the W on the same line as S&S

In all cases, the W was approx 30% larger than the S&S.

Here is the link again.

www.jkpics.com/silvertray

Thanks again for your help. Jim K.

Hi guys

I see that there are no responses to my original post other than admins', asking me to try to post a drawing of the maker's mark. I did that, and I see that some people have read the post, but have no idea if that helped you folks out at all.

Does anybody have any comments about this set? I'm considering buying it, but if nobody recognizes the signature, does that mean it's junk?

Also, I'm wondering what you guys think. Is it more likely to be silverplate or sterling?

What would be your best guess for me at this point?

I take it that nobody recognizes that mark or knows who the maker is?

Thanks again for your help.

Jim K.
Allentown, PA

Your post is still relatively new, so with a little more time somebody may come along that knows something about the set.

As a guess, the style of the decoration on the pieces looks German. From the images, I'd say this is silverplate. With no marks indicating silver quality or finess, that's a pretty safe bet. I'm sorry I can't be of any real assistance. Good luck with your research though.

Hi Jim,

I'm not sure if it's just the contrast on your photos, but to me, the set appears to have a very greyish tone that you normally associate with Britannia Metal.

See: http://www.925-1000.com/silverglossary.html

Trev.