Silver question

[mjb Mike]

Is 2355 sterling silver plated

 

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[Red-Coat]

Hi Mike.

For a proper answer, you need to give some context for the question... and if you have a piece carrying that mark, you need to show the piece itself and all of the marks it has.

From a terminology point of view, "sterling silver plated" is somewhat ambiguous. The two main methods for silver plating are:

Electro-plating
Since the 1840s this became the main method. Usually applied to base metal, but the plating is essentially 'pure' silver, not Sterling (.925). You can't electroplate with a coating of Sterling. In earlier times, larger Sterling silver statement pieces (candelabra, centrepiece bowls etc) were sometimes given an electroplate coating of pure silver... it was known as "showroom finish", but rarely used these days.

Sheffield Plate (and variants)
Prior to the 1840s this was the main method, but still used for higher quality pieces and/or where the piece needs to be more durable. Since the process involves bonding a sheet of silver to another metal (or two sheets to create a 'sandwich') then the purity of the silver can be anything one chooses and Sterling is the most usual choice.

That number, on its own, could be anything really. A style or pattern number, a manufacturer's traceability code, or a number of other possibilities.

 

[mjb Mike]

ok thanks when i get home i will post a pic or two.I stopped by a thrift store they had a cup marked sterling silver and the #2355 on it was only a 1.99 figured cant go wrong for that price thanks red coat

 

[Red-Coat]

ok thanks when i get home i will post a pic or two.I stopped by a thrift store they had a cup marked sterling silver and the #2355 on it was only a 1.99 figured cant go wrong for that price thanks red coat

Thanks... but if it's marked "Sterling", what makes you doubt this to be the case? Sterling wouldn't usually be additionally silverplated (apart from the exception I noted above or gold-plated as "silver gilt") and there wouldn't usually be another number (apart from 925) relating to purity. Manufacturer codes with various other meanings are commonly seen though.

 

[Mackaydon]

Could it be a model/design or issuance number?
Don in SoCal

 

[mjb Mike]

Here it is just looks plated to me

 

[Mackaydon]

Reminds me of an 1830 Birmlngham, England hallmark.
Don in SoCal

 

[luke_00]

Definitely sterling silver, just tarnished. As Don said, the number you are referencing is a style number. The Sterling mark, in addition to the left facing lion hallmark, verify this as a solid sterling silver piece. Great score!!!

 

[Red-Coat]

Thanks for the additional pics. Those are marks for the Gorham Corporation of Providence, RI. Despite the appearance, I wouldn’t doubt it to be Sterling silver… unless it’s an outright fake of a Gorham piece, which I doubt.

Gorham used ‘pseudo-hallmarks’ in imitation of English hallmarks. The English lion for Sterling is shown facing the wrong way, the anchor is an imitation of the city mark for Birmingham and the Gothic letter ‘G’ (for Gorham) is styled as if it were a date letter. Several American companies used these kinds of pseudo-marks to create an illusion of the prestige with which English silver was held.

The marks are in a style used from 1853 onwards, but Gorham didn’t adopt the Sterling standard until 1868. At the same time, they began a system of year-marking using letters of the alphabet starting with ‘A’, as ordinary serifed ‘Roman’ letters, until 1884. They then switched to using symbols between 1885-1933, and then single digit ‘Arabic’ numerals from 1941 onwards.

I don’t see a year-mark of any kind, so I would guess the tankard was produced between 1934-1940 when year-marking was suspended. When it resumed in 1941, year-marks were only applied to “important” pieces, so the tankard could also be post-1940.

I can see a crude hand-engraved Latin ‘XVI’ below the marks; also a digit ‘8’ and perhaps a letter ‘V’ below the ‘2355 code’. I don’t know what those are, but they’re not in the formats Gorham used for year-marking. If one theorised that ‘XVI’ was an alternative shorthand way of indicating a date of 1916, it’s not something I have ever seen on a Gorham piece. The year-mark for 1916 was an axe, shown upright with the blade facing left.

Here's the set of marks from another Gorham tankard which also has the Latin numerals ‘VII’ crudely hand-engraved. So, I would assume that they were applied in the Gorham workshop for some kind of quality control or traceability purpose. Note that this tankard also has a year-mark (as ‘O’ for 1882) but it’s crisply stamped from a punch and not hand-engraved, as would be usual.

I would hold to a likely date of 1934-1940 (or later) for your tankard, and the ‘2355’ code is a style number. Note that the other tankard I imaged has a higher numbered mark as ‘3647’, but style numbering wasn’t necessarily sequential in the sense that the lower numbers indicate earlier pieces.

Bargain price for that amount of silver!

 

[mjb Mike]

WOW THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO

 

[Red-Coat]

Definitely sterling silver, just tarnished. As Don said, the number you are referencing is a style number. The Sterling mark, in addition to the left facing lion hallmark, verify this as a solid sterling silver piece. Great score!!!

No, the lion passant is right-facing on this piece. That's the wrong way round. It's a pseudo-hallmark in imitation of an English hallmark. Marks like this were applied by the manufacturer, not by an assay office, and are no guarantee of anything... except insofar as the manufacturer has a reputation to protect.