Gorham Fork

[redshirt66]

I found this fork when buying some sterling. The seller included it for free because it didn't have any sterling marks. But as far as I can tell it is sterling. It passed the magnet test, the ping test, and the acid test (as far as I can tell). Also it is chipped at the end of one of the times and you can see it is not plated. Does anybody recognize these marks or could point me towards an era? Do silver utensils from this era hold a premium or a discount against those from the sterling era? Thank you guys for helping, this is my first time on the forum.
-Tobin

[redshirt66]

I found this fork when buying some sterling. The seller included it for free because it didn't have any sterling marks. But as far as I can tell it is sterling. It passed the magnet test, the ping test, and the acid test (as far as I can tell). Also it is chipped at the end of one of the times and you can see it is not plated. Does anybody recognize these marks or could point me towards an era? Do silver utensils from this era hold a premium or a discount against those from the sterling era? Thank you guys for helping, this is my first time on the forum.
-Tobin

[dragonflywink]

Hi - welcome to the forums. Nice job on your first post...


Your fork is silverplate, as indicated by the anchor alone trademark - below is an 1869 Gorham advertisement:





~Cheryl

[redshirt66]

Hi! Thank you for replying. Are you quite sure? As far as I could tell I have not been able to find a picture of a Gorham Silverplate that does not have the anchor in a shield. How would you explain the chip on the tine? It's gouged out almost halfway through and I cannot see any layers or different colors. Also my rare earth magnet has no effect upon it and when I wack it against something it resonates the same as my other sterling forks. Thanks again!

-Tobin

[amena]

Rare earth magnet has no effect also on copper, brass, lead, bronze, aluminum, tin, titanium, zinc, bismuth, ..............

[redshirt66]

Rare earth magnet has no effect also on copper, brass, lead, bronze, aluminum, tin, titanium, zinc, bismuth, ..............

True... But does any of those metals resonate like silver? Do any of those metals have similar densities? This fork is slightly larger and weighs slightly more than my other sterling forks so it seems to be a similar density. I have a graduated cylinder coming in the mail tomorrow so I can calculate the density better. I know there's a more accurate weigh to measure it involving suspending the object in water on a scale but my scales either can't measure that high or don't have enough precision to do it that way. I just can't come up with another metal it could be made of and still have all the properties it has

[dragonflywink]

I am quite sure. It's a silverplate pattern called 'Old English' introduced in the early 20th century, not very common (likely an unpopular pattern), but every piece I've seen bore the same somewhat eccentric sans-serif 'GORHAM CO' mark, including the anchor, as on your fork - Gorham would have no reason at all to place their silverplate anchor-alone trademark on a solid silver piece. Regarding the damage to the tine, your image appears to show a difference in tone, but even if that's just an effect, the base metal is nickel silver, which is also a white metal. The 'magnet test' is pointless, nickel silver would be no more magnetic than real silver (testing by resonance produced when whacking an item against something is new to me). The image below is from Davis & Deibel's 'Silver Plated Flatware Patterns, 2nd Ed. (1981).

~Cheryl

[redshirt66]

Well shootfire, I guess that sums it up then. I guess nickel silver and true silver must have similar densities then? Perhaps it could be pure nickel silver? I must admit the one thing that was bothering me was the fact there is zero tarnish on the piece, which I've never seen old silver or Silverplate without. Thank you Cheryl for finding that image.

-Tobin

[redshirt66]

Well my graduated cylinder came in the mail and the density tests positive for nickel silver. Thank you all for your help!