EPNS Sheffield Mother of Pearl Fish Serving Set

[that-random-humanoid]

Hello! I was helping my mother go through her silver collection to try and get an estimate on the value of it. I came across this fish serving and dinner set and I thought it would be easy, but I kind of hit a road block. I know EPNS stands for "Electro Plated Nickle Silver" and "Sheffield" should indicate that it's made in Sheffield, England, but I have no idea what the "A" means. I have been trying for days now to get information, and I can't find anything. Any help will do. Thank you!

[img]https://i.imgur.com/kWZ9JRz.jpg[img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Qgcis8d.jpg[img]

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please embed your images, as very few members will click on links.

https://postimages.org (choose 'Share', then copy the 'Hotlink for forums' code) is recommended.

Trev.

[that-random-humanoid]

Here are the images again embedded. Sorry, first time posting.

[Traintime]

Different makers used various pseudo marks as part of their identity. But here might be a rather general production to be sold by one or more retailers. In such a case, the “A” placed on its’ own is most likely showing a basic grade of silverplating…A, A1, A+, etc. show the quality of the plating. You should check the ferrule (retaining collar between blade and handle) to see if it has any marks like “Sterling” or a maker mark. If not, then that too would probably be plated. Many of the old Sears Roebuck catalogs (reproductions were made) will show sets of this kind of stuff. The Marshall Field catalogs might have similar. If this were export production, the laws regarding how it had to be stamped with a place of origin changed over time. It’s much more complex than this, but that’s a short answer for you.

[that-random-humanoid]

You should check the ferrule (retaining collar between blade and handle) to see if it has any marks like “Sterling” or a maker mark. If not, then that too would probably be plated.

Yeah there is no mark on that knife or any of the personal eating knives or forks. There is only a monogramed "W" for our family name. Thank you so much for your help! So, just for me to get this straight, this set could be from a general catalogue from a company, or from a foreign country as an exported piece? I do know that the people who got this set were definitely more likely to have bought this abroad than a catalogue, but anything is possible considering that I do not personally know the people who originally bought this.