Sanders & Mackensie manicure set plated or not?

[Rosestringer]

Hello. I have become a little puzzled. I have a manicure set that has the stamp or Sanders and Mackensie, Birmingham and the letter Y. I cannot for the life of me figure out what year it is and if it is plated or not. It also appears that there is the letter Y on the tools and Z on the stand, yet my Grandma bought it as one new piece herself. I am hoping that someone here can help me identify exactly what it is?

Thanks to anyone who can help. I hope that photos are good enough.

Rose

[oel]

Hi welcome to the forum.

No the images of the marks are not clear, please show us an enhanced clear image of all marks. Thanks.

Oel.

[dognose]

Hi Rose,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please post a clear, correctly oriented, close-up image of the mark.

Trev.

[silvermakersmarks]

A little bit of work with an image editor reveals the marks:



The hallmarks show that the manicure set is sterling silver, assayed in Birmingham during 2 assay years, 1948-49 (Y) and 1949-50 (Z). the reason for the 2 dates is that the items were submitted for assay in separate lots, probably just on either side of the assay year change-over which, for Birmingham occurred in July. They would than have been assembled into a full set in the workshop.

Phil

[Rosestringer]

Wow, that was very quick! Thanks to everyone for taking an interest and I am sorry that my photos are not very good. I wasn't sure whether I should clean it up or not and I understand that sometimes silver is best left alone.

I really appreciate your help. (admin edit)

Thanks again.

Rose