✅ SOLVED How old is this pewter cup?!

[TreasureHunter02]

I have this old colonial w.s.n pewter cup. I saw a vase with the same hallmark and was told it was circa 1930s but I'm not sure as I can't find this cup and any information on the company. Thanks in advance😄

 

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[mcl]

Here's one just like yours:

Pewter Double Handled Pewter Baby Cup Possibly Old Colonial | eBay

Almost identical pieces with the same styling for sale, seller says 1960s:

Vintage Pewter Creamer and Sugar Bowl Set Old Colonial Trade Mark | eBay

Old Colonial Pewter last trademarked in 1972, trademark expired 1996:

OLD COLONY PEWTER - Reviews & Brand Information - SHEFFIELD SILVER COMPANY, INC., THE NORTON, MA - Serial Number: 73013109

-mcl

 

[TreasureHunter02]

Thanks for the reply. Still not much info on the company on the webpage you linked but gave some insight. If anyone knows anything else I would gladly appreciate it

 

[mcl]

I assume you got your original info from this page and if so you probably already saw that the expert opined that there is a relationship between Old Colonial Pewter and a company called Brewster Pewter. I do not agree with this assessment personally because I think the expert drew that conclusion based on this listing from Goodwill and misinterpreted what was written. That listing was selling two different pewter pieces, one from Brewster and one marked WSN. I think based on the fact that Old Colonial Pewter pieces were marked WSN on the bottom, the expert assumed the WSN piece from Goodwill was related in some way -- that much I think is correct. But I think the expert thought this was a single piece -- a Brewster piece marked WSN -- rather than two separate pieces. That's where I believe a mistake may have been made.

You will find that with hallmarked metal kitchenware, there are often old, long out of business companies that had many different subsidiaries and untangling the web to determine the parent company can be very difficult. For what it's worth, I'm guessing the stamp on your cup that says "WSN" is what will lead to the true history of the company because that mark appears on other pewter pieces that are not from Old Colonial, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Here is an example of a seller on ebay offering two candle holders and a spoon; the spoon is a different maker than the candle holders, and note that it is marked WSN and genuine pewter. Don't get distracted by the candle holders, I don't think they are related to the spoon. Now this may be a coincidence but I also found a listing for two pewter trinket boxes. One is marked WSN, the other is marked WOODSETTON. The seller assumes they are separate makers but they are wrong. Note that the "N" on the WSN piece is the same font as the "N" in the Woodsetton piece. Now again.. this could be a coincidence -- another pewter manufacturer using a stamp that says WSN, but I can't help but wonder if the WSN of this trinket box is the same as the WSN marked on Old Colonial Pewter pieces. WSN is used as an abbreviation for Woodsetton on that trinket box. Woodsetton is the name of a company that makes pewter gifts. Your piece marked WSN is a lot like a pewter baby cup given for baptismal gifts (as I understand that is). Therefore...

I think there's a good chance that the parent company of Old Colonial is Woodsetton, the pewter gift manufacturer.

How's that for help?

-mcl

 

[TreasureHunter02]

Wow! Thanks for all of the info. Learned a lot. I did a little digging but couldn't figure out the circa still. Any thoughts?

 

[tamrock]

I think no earlier then the 1960's ... The stamping looks modern and machine produced. A hallmark is a British dating, location and gold & silver purity systems used. You don't have any hallmarks on your piece.

 

[mcl]

Tamrock is correct about the terminology. For pewter, there are different names for different types of marks. The main mark on this piece, the stagecoach with "Old Colonial Pewter" around it is called a touchmark. And I suspect that WSN is the maker's mark as mentioned before. The other piece you have posted on "what is it" also has another kind of stamp referred to as the "catalog number". There are other types of stamps as well. Some British pewter has stamps reminiscent of British hallmarks by the way and they can look similar.

 

[TreasureHunter02]

Ok thank you all!

 

[mcl]

Wow! Thanks for all of the info. Learned a lot. I did a little digging but couldn't figure out the circa still. Any thoughts?

Missed your question there. So I hate to go back on what I was implying in my first post -- that the cup is circa 1960s-1970s, but I did a little Google-fu and now I'm second guessing myself. My original evidence was that eBay seller describing their cream and sugar set as from the 1960s as well as the date from the trademark website. Well first, I just want to note that the link I posted to the trademark website actually was for a completely different company -- called "Old Colony Pewter". Stupid mistake on my part but to summarize, that link was irrelevant and referred to a company that made pewter between at least the 1974 patent date and the 1980s. That left me with just that one eBay seller's opinion in the 1960s column. So just to go back and check, for several different decades, I tried to find the number of people selling Old Colonial Pewter pieces that they described as being from a given decade. I did this by googling e.g., ' "old colonial pewter" 1960s '. Here are my results.

1970s: No results.
1960s: 1 result (the one I originally posted)
1950s: No results.
1940s: No results.
1930s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 results, and 6 if you count the expert from the justanswer.com link posted before
1920s: 1, 2, 3, 4 results.
1910s: No results.

Now just going by that it makes it look like I was wrong and the true date is closer to the 1930s. Another interesting thing I found was this Google Books Snippet result from a 1966 collector's magazine advertisement in which there are two pewter items (a candy dish and a bowl) for sale with the touchmark "Old Colonial Pewter" for $3.75 each -- according to this inflation calculator that's about $27 a piece in 2016 dollars. Now due to how Google Snippets work, I can't tell you the context of the advertisement but based on the fact that it is from a collector's magazine and someone wanted to advertise Old Colonial Pewter in it, they must have thought they were collectible. The relatively high price -- the modern equivalent of over $50 -- for just two small pieces of pewter dishware, would suggest to me that they probably weren't just some two or three year old dishes in 1966, but that's totally my biased opinion and I'm not an expert in any way.

One more thing is that I am starting to doubt that Woodsetton connection I made earlier for two reasons. First, Woodsetton pewter company was founded in 1983 according to their website, and the Google results show that your piece clearly predates their manufacturing years. Second, Woodsetton pewter is based in the UK, which doesn't make as much sense since this is "colonial style" (i.e., early American inspired) pewter -- not impossible of course just saying. Therefore I'm thinking the shared WSN initials was just a coincidence after all, despite my obvious confidence before.

For what it's worth, one of the "1930s" results I posted before also claimed that "Old Colonial Pewter Company" was based out of Salem, Massachusetts. Now I'm not sure where the seller got that information but it is certainly interesting and maybe worth following up on. As a side note, there is also a city by the name of Winston-Salem North Carolina, W.S.N.C., but that could just be a coincidence as well.

In any case, it seems to me now that the piece is probably 1930s-ish and that I was wrong on several points before. Nothing makes me happier than proving myself wrong of course.

Hope you're here to stay at Treasure Net, I've invested a lot in your pewter at this point lol.

-mcl

 

[TreasureHunter02]

Haha. Thank you so much. I wasn't sure about joining this sight but now I am. Really helpful info. Thank you soooo much!