Buster Brown Coin Silver Fork.

[Dirty Digger Doug]

Found this stunning Buster Brown Coin Silver fork today. Saw s played coin silver on the back.

 

[Red-Coat]

That’s a bit of fun and they’re quite scarce (but only in nice condition) although, as said on the back of yours, it’s not solid coin silver but a type of silver plate. The usual mark is “Extra Coin Silver Plate”, like this:

This was a trademark of the Niagara Silver Company (formed 1899) that became the intellectual property of William A Rogers in 1902 by acquisition.

When you electroplate silver onto base metal, you get a layer of essentially pure silver (.999 fine or better). One alternative is to cover a sheet of base metal with a very thin sheet of silver (one or both sides) and then apply heat and pressure to bond the layers together. That’s how “Old Sheffield Plate” was made before electroplating was perfected. If you use this kind of process, you can choose the purity of the silver… and reduce your costs by using, for example, coin silver at .900 fine as the plating alloy.

Rogers began making these ‘Buster Brown’ items as sets of knife/fork/spoon sometime around 1905, through to perhaps the 1920s (they were acquired by Oneida in 1929).

 

[Digger RJ]

Found this stunning Buster Brown Coin Silver fork today. Saw s played coin silver on the back.

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

That’s a bit of fun and they’re quite scarce (but only in nice condition) although, as said on the back of yours, it’s not solid coin silver but a type of silver plate. The usual mark is “Extra Coin Silver Plate”, like this:

This was a trademark of the Niagara Silver Company (formed 1899) that became the intellectual property of William A Rogers in 1902 by acquisition. When you electroplate silver onto base metal, you get a layer of essentially pure silver (.999 fine or better). One alternative is to cover a sheet of base metal with a very thin sheet of silver (one or both sides) and then apply heat and pressure to bond the layers together. That’s how “Old Sheffield Plate” was made before electroplating was perfected. If you use this kind of process, you can choose the purity of the silver… and reduce your costs by using, for example, coin silver at .900 fine as the plating alloy. Rogers began making these ‘Buster Brown’ items as sets of knife/fork/spoon sometime around 1905, through to perhaps the 1920s (they were acquired by Oneida in 1929).

Great information Red-Coat.
I'm always interested in learning about plated cutlery, mainly because I find so much of it.
Dave

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Found this stunning Buster Brown Coin Silver fork today. Saw s played coin silver on the back.

What a unique find.
Likely a fork that a child treasured and was devastated when they realized it was lost.