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.

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. 

Wilcox Silver Plate Co. Water Pitcher

This is my other water pitcher. It is from the Wilcox Silver Plate Co.
This design was patented October 29, 1878. It has an ice shield and a
ceramic insert to help keep the water cold. It's catalog number is
5174. The banding is a repousse floral affair.

That its the cat Paycheck helping in the background.

Water Pitcher- Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co.

I picked up this water pitcher last weekend. An older gentleman I know that sells at the local flea market had pulled it out for me from a box of junk. He even had had his grandson polish it with a cloth to take off most of the tarnish. It was exquisite. At first I thought it was missing its ceramic insert, however, it has an ice shield that swings inward and this tells me that it never had one. The finial on top is easy enough to see in the picture, but around the edge are shields and papyrus with little birds inside the shields. The same design is repeated around the top. The spout has flowers on it and the motif is repeated in the handle.

The mark is terribly hard to read. However after enough staring I figured out it was "made" by the Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co.

Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co. was located in St. Louis Missouri and seems to have existed from 1872 to 1900. It was managed for a time by Philip S.Pelton.

Their flatware was marked:
Triple Plate 12
Sectional Plate XII
Standard Plate 4

Their hollowware was marked as a PB in a shield and as a circular cartouche.

I question that this being made by them. There is another set of marks on the bottom of the pitcher that has been over-struck and then plated. A barely visible CT can be seen and I am assuming that the underlying britannia metal was bought from one of the Connecticut manufacturers and then plated by the Pelton Bros. This was a pretty common practice in the Victorian era. In fact this practice was one of the contributing reasons that the International Silver Company formed because some firms found that by uniting they could save money on this trend in the industry. It also explains identical pieces having different manufacturing marks.