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As many of you know I work with antiques other than just in silver. I created a new blog for that stuff and you can read it here.

http://hustlingantiques.blogspot.com/

A nice selection of Victorian silverplate.

Detail of a butter dish

Simpson Hall & Miller water pitcher

This was at one point a beautiful water pitcher by Simpson Hall & Miller. Marked as patented July 5th 1881, it has had a hard life. It's missing it's inside liner. The finial is broken. The plate is damaged, yet with its fish handle and marvelous spout it still retains some of its former glory.

Homan Silver Co. Sick Call Priest Set

This is a traveling set for a priest to take to a persons house
complete with wooden box. Like an altar in a box.

How Much is my Silver Worth?

So in all likelihood you got here searching for information on some silver. I do the history of silver and appraise in person. I do not appraise online. Value is hard to determine, but I have a friend who is developing his skills online and developing an online (free) appraisal service. If you want a value check out his site and ask him for advice:

http://www.thenakedappraiser.com/

If you live in Oklahoma send me an email

redavis001 (at) gmail.com

Creamer marked E.P.C.

I try to clean out the collection every now and then. This means taking pieces out and selling them or giving them away to other collectors and he like. Every time I go through this process  this piece gets pulled out and examined. I never get rid of it. I like it too much. It has no maker, the plate is gone, I have better creamers, but I love the handle that looks like a bent Greek Ionic column. 

Its only mark is E.P.C. or Electro-Plate Copper. You can see the green copper tarnish in the picture that has formed on its side. Its heavy for its size and I am guessing that it was part of a low price hotel or restaurant ware set. I like it and will one day find a use for it. so for now it is safe, protected and cherished by a collector. 

Homan Manufacturing Company Butter Dish

This little fellow is dented, has plate loss and the holder for he butter knife is pinched. I use it to hold pocket change. Old silver always wants to serve, it was born to serve and if you are creative you can find it a job. Plus, I really love the floral motif on this piece. 

I am also charmed by the fact that this butter dish was made by a small maker, the Homan Silverplate Co. from Cincinnati Ohio. The mark indicates that it was manufactured after 1896. 

Homan Manufacturing Company

Founded:

     1847

Closed: 

     1941

Founders/Managers:

     Asa F. Flagg -Retired 1854

     Henry Homan - Died 1865

     M.Miller- Joined as partner in 1854

     1865-Firm managed by Margaret Homan (Henry Homan's widow)

     and their sons:

     Frank Homan (Died 1880)

     Louis Homan

     and

     Joseph T. Homan

     

     Margaret Homan retired in 1887

Notes:

     Originally made britannia ware, german silver and pewter.

     1864 or thereabouts began silver plating operations

     

     Were known for their ecclesiastical wares.

     

     Made wares for river boats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

     1896 firm changed names to Homan Silver Plate Co. 

     1904-1915 (somewhere in there) changed name to Homan Manufacturing Co. 

Marks:

     Homan and Co.

     Flagg and Homan

     Homan Silver Plate Co. (often with snarled anchor in round cartouche)

     Homan and Company Cincinnati

     Outfit (with cross) on church goods

     Richfield Plate Co. (Low cost goods)

     Sick-Call

     Special Metal (with hammer and crucible with H in crucible)

     Homan Mfg. Co. (with snarled anchor in round cartouche)

Book Review St. Louis Silversmiths

St. Louis Silversmiths is a book I had been looking forward to examining for a few weeks now. Ever since I purchased a Mermond-Jaccard silverplate tea service that I gave as a Christmas present, but for some reason failed to get a picture of. At any rate, Mermond-Jaccard was a major maker and jewelry store in St. Louis. In doing research on them I found this book and ordered it through my ILL account. I did this right before the holiday and have been waiting for it to arrive. Over the holiday I also had the chance to view a few books recently purchased by a friend and fellow collector. One I enjoyed was entitled Silversmiths of Kentucky. I looked forward to a complete and well researched book like this on St. Louis silversmiths. 

I was disappointed. 

While there is nothing particulary wrong with this volume its content and piece list were not the complete  

record of St. Louis Silversmiths I had hoped it would be. While this volume is not as good as other more specialized catalogs I had thought it to be, it is still an interesting if short read.

Made for an exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum in 1980, the first six pages give a broad overview of silversmithing in St. Louis. The remainder of the books 39 pages is an alphabetical list of silversmiths that worked in the St. Louis area. The listings are simple giving a name approximate dates and a verbal description of their marks if they were available. There are also several pictures of silver made in St. Louis from its founding to the modern period.

This book does a good job of listing what it lists but I fear I have been spoiled by online databases of silver information. At a going rate of about $20.00 used I fear there are other books that will be in line before it for the library. However, I am grateful that even in its incomplete form that it is available for consultation.  

Server Wm. A. Rogers New York

Catalog number: 6

Little Creamer The Middletown Plate Co.

Catalog number 733.

I like this little fellow. The curvy shape appeals to me. It would have been a part of an individual serving set. It was made by the Middletown Plate Co. and has their earlier mark. I think Middletown is an under collected name in silverplate. Meriden Britannia Co. is supposed to be such fine work, but Middletown is just as old and I think quite nice.  Lets look at some fun facts:

Middletown Plate Co. 
(Do not confuse with the Middletown Silver Plate Co.)

Place:

     Middletown Connecticut 

Year:
     1864-1899-merger with ISC-

Founders:
     Edward Payne
     Henry Bullard

Made:
     holloware
     flatware

Mergers:
     1866 incorporated
     1899 Joined International Silver Co.

Notes:
     Sold Wares to the Wm. Rogers co. that plated and sold the material with their own mark.
     This means identical pieces can be found with different stamps

Forbes Silver Co. Spooner and Waste

Catalog number 572

Rogers and Brothers Cup

Catalog number: 132

Forbes Silver Plate Co. Creamer, Sugar, Spooner

Catalog number: 216

Cake Basket Columbia Silver Co.

Catalog number 037.

I know its beat up and bruised. It has had a hard life and I took it in. Now it sits by the back door and holds banana peels until I go out and put them in the roses. The plate is damaged, the inside is dented that the bail has lost its plate. But I like it. Its from the "Columbia Silver Co." although the mark would appear to read "Oclumbia Silver Co."  Colombia who at best was a low grade plater from what I have seen of their work, but as you know I am a big fan of the smaller less celebrated makers. This one is however, a doozy.

There is really not much to be said about this maker no one seems to know much of anything.

Rainwater list two "Columbias" First we can eliminate one based on year and manufacturing:

Columbia Silver Co.
     Brooklyn, New York
     Active around the middle fifties until the late 1970's
     Plus they made sterling
So they are out for now.

Columbia Manufacturing Co.
     Gowanda, New York
     Made plated Wares
     Around 1892

    A closer time period on the year but not the same name.
    No mark listed.


A third possibility I have seen is that "Columbia Superior" was used by the Middletown Plate Company as a low grade mark. This mark is not even close to that.

There is also the problem that one might mistake the words columbia for columbian and attribute the mark to the Queen City Silver Plate Co. However I believe that they are in fact two different marks the giant C not withstanding. Besides Columbian Silver Co. seems to actually have been marked on pieces of higher grades than these. an easy mistake to be sure.

So where does that leave us? Not very far. I can assure you. There is a small discussion about it on the Silver Salon Forums. They did not get very far either. It is likely that unless we get a time machine that we will never know. However, I like a problem and will endeavor to provide you the dear reader with as much information as I can dig up on the issue as we progress. Like I mentioned before there were thousands of tiny platers out there that produced small amounts of product and we may never know very much about them. However we can appreciate the craftsmanship and styling of the products they left behind.

Good News! A little research has turned up some interesting facts.

First, the Columbia Silver Co. of Brooklyn (the sterling manufacturer) the first reference to them I could find was in 1947.  This was in Chilton's jewelers' circular/keystone 1970 jewelers' directory issue: Volume 144, Issues 7-10 pages 442, 443, and 445.  Also more exactly they were known as Columbia Silver Co. Inc.

They  are also listed in the 1949 New York state directory of manufacturing and mining firms in New York state, under the same name.

Also they are listed in Mastai's classified directory of American art & antique dealers, Volume 3 as an antiques dealer in 1947. 

This does not get us very far with out problem, however it does shed some light on that particular company.

Second, the Jewelers' Circular, Volume 135 from 1917 list the Columbia Silver Co. (I believe the one we are looking for) as an exhibitor. 

Two Dollar Plate, French Sterling

I picked this up for two dollars yesterday at a junk store on a lark. I did not see any of the usual marks, just ones I could not really see clearly. It was heavy, tarnished (it sat in the sink overnight and was much worse)  but it did not have any sorts of the usual silver plate marks. I liked the detail of the flowers on it (the picture does not do it justice) but was wary because it is a small piece and seems to be missing something.  I don't know what the center is for it is the size of a teacup. I think that is what I may do with it. 

The marks were confusing. I looked in Rainwater's book first this did not help. There are two marks I had a hard time seeing.  I knew it had a Minerva head, so I did some internet searching. It also had another head in a square cartouche. At first I thought it might be Dutch. This did not pan out. Then I thought it might be Russian. It was close (the mark was so hard to see) but this did not turn out. Then I figured out that it was French. I still have a lot I am trying to learn about international hallmarks, and I rely heavily on this wonderful site. 925-1000 is one of my go to places on the internet for information. 

As an online encyclopedia of silver they are second to none. I could not do my work without them. So not only did they help me confirm the assay mark as being french, they had information on the maker. 

Turns out it is Emile Delaire who worked from 1882 to 1920. 

I could not have asked for a better deal, a better research site, or a better dish. Thats pretty good if I do say so myself. 

E. G. Webster & Son Coffee Pot

This little fellow got purchased a couple of weeks ago. I picked it up from a dealer friend of mine at a low cost who just hours before had picked it up from another dealer friend of mine for about nine dollars less. Had I not been so lazy that morning it could have been mine at a lower price but not to despair, early bird and all that. I really like the wooden handle, and the lid is in good shape, the silver inside is intact, the shape just does not do it for me. 

The weather was unseasonably warm today so you get an outside picture. This pot is part of the famous E.G. Webster reproduction lines and has a very classical english styling about it. I covered a brief history of E.G. Webster & Son in this post so there is no need to reproduce it here. I really like this maker and have seen many of their works. It is easy to identify through the use of their trademark spider web with a W. Though this is only one of their many marks, I think it is one of their best and just the detail of it is a joy to behold. 

Without reference books at hand to identify this mark I imagine that searching it out is a pain on the internet. I think I would go with the terms W, Star, Web, Silver but that could turn up any amount of things. Pictorial marks are some of the hardest to identify. Though, like with Webster, once you know what it is it becomes immediately recognizable to the collector. 

So what will become of this little fellow? Well I am stocked up on pots like this and it is not in the garish Victorian style I like so much so he is destined to be a Christmas present. The person i have in mind will give him a very good home.  There is a little damage to his foot where he was likely set on a ht stove or burner, but i don't think that this will matter too much. Sometimes imperfect silver is some of the most interesting. 

Last Water Pitcher. Reed and Barton

This is the last of my three water pitchers.  Oh I have many many other pitchers but those are not just water pitchers. Strangely it was the first water pitcher I bought.  I purchased it at an estate sale about four years ago. The maker is Reed and Barton and it was made in 1943. I know because unlike so many other makers Reed and Barton is kind enough on later works form 1928 on to put a date symbol (much like British sterling has). This piece has a fasces and thus was easy to look up.  Another  unique thin about his pitcher is its weight. Even though it has a ceramic insert the bottom is weighted quite heavily. This was to keep it from sliding on a table. Why? you inquire. Because this pitcher was made for the U.S. Navy. It is marked USN on the bottom. This means it was made during Word War II. 

I could go into a long discussion here about the history of Reed and Barton, their date marks and other marks but this information has been covered by so many people. Probably because they are still producing silver and silverplate.  However if you are interested you should check out this site. Giorgio B. has done a wonderful job of covering Reed and Barton as well as many many other makers and topics. I rely on it constantly. I can't imagine what his collection is like but this database of information is second to none. I truly admire his work. 

Another Cup

I picked up this little gem because I liked the handle and it was very inexpensive. It could do with a polish but I am afraid hat doing so will reveal that most of the plate is gone. I put it next to the old Frankoma coffee mug to give it some colour and scale. Plus its morning here and therefore is coffee time. 

The marks on the cup were hard to read, but it is from the Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co. from Wallingford Connecticut.  Its catalog number is 404. Across the front it has so large elephant ear type plant. My mother could identify the plant right off but not knowing too much about tropical plants thats the description I will stick with. 

I am posting a lot right now both because I have a little time and I have a backlog in the collection to catch up with. 

To learn more about S.H. & Miller you should read this post.