Packfong

[amena]

Hello everyone
I recently found a silver metal holy water bucket. Obviously it has no hallmark and therefore it is difficult to date it.
The shape is typical of the eighteenth century, and is certainly handcrafted, but it could have been made even later.
One thing that makes me think it is later than 18th is that the base metal is white.
Can anyone tell me when the white metal came into use in Europe?
Wikipedia asserts that pakfong was known as early as the seventeenth, but usually silverplated objects of the eighteenth have copper as their base metal.
Another clue to try to define the manufacturing date could be the silvering technique. How were objects silvered before galvanic silvering?
How is it possible to distinguish a galvanic silver plating from another silver plating method?
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Thanks for attention
Amena

[Bahner]

Hello, do not know about other countries, but in Germany E.A. Geitner is considererd to be the "inventor" (rather: re-inventor) in 1823, he named it Argentan, referring to the Latin word argentum for silver. Henniger in Berlin followed with his invention (the alloy being a little different) in 1824, naming it Neusilber ("new silver"). Henniger was the first to produce objects from Neusilber in his factory, founded the same year. As to electroplating - first experiments date back to the first years of the 19th century, but it was not until the middle to late 1840ies and early 1850ies that production of electroplated household objects actually began. I am not sure whether one can pin an exact date to this, at least not in Germany. Regards, Bahner

[AG2012]

Hi,
Nothing earlier than 19th century, except for well known Sheffield plate.
Earlier fire gilding, mercury gilding, tumbaga etc. are beyond the subject of electro plating and refer to gold plating.
Regards

[amena]

So my doubts are confirmed, if the base metal is white, which involves the presence of nickel, then the artifact cannot be prior to around 1830. Even the silvering suggests an object from the mid-19th century. The bucket is also silvered inside and this seems to rule out the mercury silvering process

Thank you all
Amena