BRITISH SILVERPLATE
ALPHABETIC SYMBOLS
The marks of electroplated silver were often inspired to the hallmarking used for sterling
silver, but, unlike this system, no codified rule was followed by silver plate makers.
Nonetheless, besides the trade mark, many electroplaters used alphabetic symbols to identify
the town of origin, the quantity of the silver used in plating and, in some cases, the date of manufacture.
The purpose of these marks was, mostly, of promotional nature and hid the unacknowledged goal of
confusing the customer about the nature of the metal alloy.
This misconduct was so obvious that in 1895c the use of the "crown" was forbidden to avoid
confusion with the sterling mark used by the Sheffield Assay Office.
|THE STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO SILVERPLATE MARKS|
|UK FIGURAL TRADE MARKS|
|SILVERPLATE PSEUDO HALLMARKS|
|CROWN MARK ON STERLING SILVER AND SILVERPLATE|
|UNIDENTIFIED SILVERPLATE MARKS|
|
TOWN SYMBOLS
The more common town symbols used by electroplaters were:
G = Glasgow
L = London
M = Manchester
S = Sheffield
Apparently, this practise was not followed by Birmingham plate makers as I never found a mark with a "B"
used to identify Birmingham as the town of origin (but I found marks of firms active in Birmingham bearing
the "S" of Sheffield -possibly having a branch in Sheffield-).
"G" FOR GLASGOW TOWN MARK
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DYKES BROTHERS - Glasgow (possibly)
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WILLIAM ALEXANDER & SON - Glasgow
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"L" FOR LONDON TOWN MARK
ROBERT PRINGLE & SONS - London
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MAXFIELD & SONS - London
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"M" FOR MANCHESTER TOWN MARK
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ARNOLD & LEWIS - Manchester
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"S" FOR SHEFFIELD TOWN MARK
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MARK WILLIS - Sheffield
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HARRISON BROTHERS - Sheffield
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BOARDMAN & GLOSSOP - Sheffield
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MAPPIN & WEBB - Sheffield and London
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QUALITY SYMBOLS
British electroplaters used a letter code for their "Plated" wares. The best quality was
"A1" or "AI", lower level was "A", next level was "B", followed
by level "C", and the lowest level was "D".
A1 (or AI)= Superior Quality = 32 grams on 12 pieces = 2 2/3 grams per table spoon or table fork
A = Standard Quality = 24 grams on 12 pieces = 2 grams per table spoon or table fork
B1 = Quality code found in a Walker & Hall spoon = meaning unknown
B = Third Quality = 16 grams on 12 pieces = 1 1/3 grams per table spoon or table fork
C = Fourth Quality = 12 grams on 12 pieces = 1 grams per table spoon or table fork
D = Fifth Quality = 6 grams on 12 pieces = 0 1/2 grams per table spoon or table fork
(Example by Barker Brothers, Birmingham, around 1900: courtesy Oskar M. Zurell).
"A1" OR "AI" SUPERIOR QUALITY
"AA" or "A.A." UNKNOWN QUALITY
"A" STANDARD QUALITY
"B1" UNKNOWN QUALITY
"B" THIRD QUALITY
"C" FOURTH QUALITY
METAL ALLOY
British makers adopted a letter code to identify the base metal and/or the different silver plating
process used on their "Plated" wares.
The most common was EPNS (Electro Plated Nickel Silver), but many other symbols were used, as
EBPM (Electro Plated Britannia Metal), EPCA (Electro Plated Copper Alloy), PGS (Plated German silver), MP (Magnetic Plating), PS (Plated Steel),
WP (White metal Plated), EP (Electro Plated) and others that I was unable to identify with certainty (BP for Britannia Plate, AP or AS for Albata Plate or Albata Silver) or totally unidentified (ESMC)
"AP" or "AS": ALBATA PLATE or ALBATA SILVER (possibly)
"BP": BRITANNIA PLATE (possibly)
"CP": CLOSE PLATING
"EP": ELECTRO PLATED
"EPBM": ELECTRO PLATED BRITANNIA METAL
"EPCA": ELECTRO PLATED COPPER ALLOY
"EPGS": ELECTRO PLATED GERMAN SILVER
"EPNS": ELECTRO PLATED NICKEL SILVER
"EP ON COPPER": ELECTRO PLATED ON COPPER
"ESM": ELECTROPLATED SILVER MOUNTS
"EPWM": ELECTRO PLATED WHITE METAL
"MP": MAGNETO PLATE
"PS": PLATED STEEL
"P over EP" and "P over MP": PRIME ELECTRO PLATE and PRIME MAGNETO PLATE
("Prime" referring presumably to Thomas Prime process of electro deposition)
DATE LETTERS
The use of a "date letter" (or symbol) was not a common practice for British electroplaters.
Only Elkington made regular use of this device and the series of its date letters from
1849 to the 1970s is well known and fully decoded (click here
for the complete series of Elkington date marks). An exclusive of this site is the complete series of silverplate date letters of Thomas Bradbury & Sons (click here )
Date letters are present in the marks of other firms as Mappin & Webb (click here ) and Walker & Hall (click here )
which used date letters on a less systematic base. At the present the key of interpretation is unknown to me
(any information would be highly appreciated)
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Elkington & Co
date letter H
year 1893
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Thomas Bradbury & Sons
date letter W
year 1872
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Mappin & Webb
date letter J
year unknown
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Walker & Hall
date letter b
year unknown
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