FriscoT06
Hero Member
- Joined
- May 2, 2011
- Messages
- 601
- Reaction score
- 655
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Hatteras Island, NC
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II (retired), Minelab X-Terra 505
- Primary Interest:
- Shipwrecks
- #1
Thread Owner
Sooo... My baby, my wife, and I were treasure hunting our huge local thrift store hoping to find something good. We went by the jewelry counter- nothing there except overpriced sterling. Then we went on through the metal aisle- nothing but the usual stuff. As we were searching the next aisle, I checked the mugs and beer steins to see if any were old porcelain or silver. I pick up this mug, see that it's just peeling silverplate all over, and put it back. But I thought, gee that was a heavy one though.... So i pick it up, and see the old English sterling marks with the left facing lion passant! I immediately thought it was some kind of modern counterfeit due to the peeling silverplate... but something just told me to take it anyway. We searched the other half of the store, all the while I was cursing myself for being stubborn on spending 2.99 on what must be a fake, as I kept commenting to my wife that maybe I should just put it back... again. My wife tells me, hey, just get it- It's only 2.99. So I do. When I get home, I inspect the areas that are peeling, and notice that the peel is not metal colored, but clear. I immediately suspect someone got tired of polishing their silver and just coated it in shellac. I may have even tried to scratch through the plate with a steak knife in an inconspicuous spot on the bottom to see the base metal.... but there was none, just more bright silver color. I test an area with acetone, and it took the shellac off immediately. But it looked so bad, that while I prefer patina, this needed to be polished. So it is indeed a sterling Georgian baluster mug that I got from the thrift store for 2.99! It weighs about 12 ounces, although I don't have a good scale. The hallmarks show that it was made in London by Charles Wright in the year 1770! This is most definitely one of my favorite finds.
