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A Whatisit For Sale ....


RichardB

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Hi Vox, I was interested in this item but had no idea what it is so I sent the link to a friend who is an antique dealer. Like me, he is a Sheffielder who lives in Auz. He came up with some very interesting observations:

Just a short note to try and identify your mystery item.

MY opinion is that the object is a bread basket. It certainly is NOT sterling silver, and the so-called hallmarks are not real. I won't use the word fake, or the word counterfeit as they were not really intended to be passed on as genuine silver, but to try and fool unknowing purchasers. It is NOT Sheffield Plate which was invented around 1740 which was sheet copper with pure silver fused to each face. As you can see, it is perforated and therefore the copper would show through. Electro Plated Nickel Silver (E.P.N.S.) was invented around 1840 and the base metal, say copper, could be plated, even in the cut-outs, by electrolysis, so, without looking closely at it, it could be Nickel, Pure Silver or chromium, but most likely, for this object, be pure silver plated. The word Sheffield does nor appear on Sterling Silver (925 parts silver to 75 parts copper or a mixture of other metals is Sterling silver), because the 4 hallmarks (sometimes 5) represent the Lion passant indicating Sterling, a town Assay mark, a Manufacturer's mark, and a Date mark. A fifth mark was used for a while showing the head of Geo III or Victoria meaning that a duty had been paid to the Crown. Sheffield attained the status of an Assay Office in 1773. Up until regional Assay Offices in the 1700's ALL silver was Assayed in London, and to this day 90% of all silver has the London mark which is a Lion's head. Sheffield's mark, up till quite recently was a Crown and is now a Rose.

Ebay customers beware !

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MY opinion is that the object is a bread basket.

I would think it's a bit small to be a bread basket, "5 1/2" across x 1 1/2 wide x 1 1/8" high".

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Think my friends' reply may be a bit tongue-in-cheek but here it is anyway:

I don't think the size was mentioned before (it's something I don't like to mention in public) but I might have missed it. Darn it, I have now made 2 mistakes since 1947, I can't believe it! I still think it could be a bread basket bearing in mind that in Victorian times a man was labelled a giant if over 4' 2" and so bread had to be made really small so that he could carry a whole loaf home to his wife. Women in Victorian days were even smaller than men, averaging a height (in stilettos) of only 3' 10". Generally loaves were baked without a hard outer layer and men had to work extra hours (down't'pit) to earn a crust.

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That's my kind of reply. :)

Tell him that I too made a mistake once.

It was in 1981 when, during a discussion, I conceded that my adversary was probably correct.

As it turned out, he wasn't. :)

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