Sterling or Plate?

[dw171]

Big tea set with tray at auction. know anything marked EP definitely isn't sterling. They're listed as British sterling marks. Can anyone ID these possible British marks? There's a crown, lion, and T mark next to the name. It looked like sterling, but it could just be nice plate.

According to here it looks like Sheffield mark from 1886
http://www.925-1000.com/dlSheffield.html

 

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[mkulltra]

The lion is usually representative of sterling. I would normal be concerned because of the EP too but looks like it is just the name of the company. Usually Sheffield plate is maked EPNS. I think you have a nice sterling set personally but it needs more research. Going to see if I can find anything for you.

 

[mkulltra]

Are the pieces pretty lightweight for their size? If they are overly heavy it could be a good indication of plate.

 

[dw171]

it weighed like sterling, but that ep just bothers me. there was some rogers stuff sitting there as well. I hope its sterling and the company had a poor choice of name. It'll throw off any other bidders.

 

[mkulltra]

From my research, it is sterling as all of the marks are from the English assay office identifying the quality of the silver.

Your marks of the crown and the lion represent sterling silver. The uppercase T represents the year 1961 which makes sense with the reference I found to the maker as being seen on several pieces from 1961-1964.

Congratulations. Nice score. Would like to see pics of the rest and know how much you paid.

--Just realized you might not of bought it yet. If that's the case and you win it, feel free to send me a giftcard for the assistance.

 

[dw171]

What's the company that made it. Searching for EP and Co only brings up random information on plate. Here's what the whole set looks like, marked red through the Rogers stuff. The tray says its marked the same, but I didn't pick it up, no room to set items aside.

 

[mkulltra]

E P & Co & E P & Co Limited are the names of the company. No info on what it stands for but there are other examples of their work. The assay marks tell you that it's sterling, from Sheffield, and it was assayed in 1961.

 

[dw171]

thanks for your help, I'll let you know how saturday goes.

 

[masterjedi]

Sterling will flex if you squeeze it.... Plated items will not.... Most company's that made sterling wanted you to know it was silver so it would be marked sterling.... be careful...

 

[GibH]

Sterling will flex if you squeeze it.... Plated items will not.... Most company's that made sterling wanted you to know it was silver so it would be marked sterling.... be careful...

You need to study up on world hallmarks.

 

[mkulltra]

I hate to break it to you but it's probably not going to go cheap considering there is a sign on it that says British Sterling Silver. Looks like the auction house knows what it is too. They must of done the research and came to the same conclusion. There is no way the are going to let it go for cheap. I'm sure they will tell everyone in the audience that it is sterling also. My bet is that it will probably sell at, over, or near spot value. Too bad they put out the sign, otherwise you probably would have gotten a great score.

 

[dw171]

It doesn't matter what the auction house knows its whether the buyer knows. They don't care about prices they just sell. It's marked ep and has wm Rogers sitting with it. Very few people actually know sterling around here. They have tons of Waterford crystal that they don't know about. Picked up 20 pieces last time for no thing. If it's same crowd as last time it won't make it to spot price.

 

[mkulltra]

Hope you don't take what I was saying wrong, I am rooting for you. I hope you get it for nothing. My experience at auction houses isn't great. Here they would either/and a) have a "phone bidder" bidding it up b) have an employee bidding in person (have personally talked to that guy which stopped me from going to auctions as he goes through all the stuff during we before auction and know everything to bid on) c) they would tell everone at the auction which pieces are sterling and not or d) refuse to sell it if it doesn't hit a certain price or will not start bidding at lower than melt. This is just my experience though and as I said, I hope you have better luck and take it home with you at a great deal.

 

[dw171]

No I wasn't taking it the wrong way. I was just saying that's how auctions around here go. Any auction house that would do what you just said would fail in less than a year. People just don't like spending a lot of money. However there's a lot of art work here that might bring in different people. I really do thank you got helping look up the marks. Going to weigh the set today. I'll update how it went this weekend.

 

[masterjedi]

You need to study up on world hallmarks.

Big smile

 

[billjustbill]

Big tea set with tray at auction. know anything marked EP definitely isn't sterling. They're listed as British sterling marks. Can anyone ID these possible British marks? There's a crown, lion, and T mark next to the name. It looked like sterling, but it could just be nice plate.

According to here it looks like Sheffield mark from 1886
Sheffield Hallmarks 1 - Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks

This is so good to know!! If I saw the lettering, I'd almost have bet the farm it was telling me it was "Electro Plate" over "COpper". Thanks for showing what to look for!

Bill

 

[dw171]

Well the auction didn't go add I expected. Lots of new people with too much money and nothing to do. just about everything was seriously over priced. There was only 1 other person who knew sterling. Partial sterling set sold for 450 and the tea set went for 1000. Ended up with only 2 Waterford tumblers and a pretty set of pink old colony glass and some other random stuff.

 

[here4themoney]

awww too bad, well thanks for the update.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just doing a bit of tidying up on some older threads, mainly for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

Yes, this is definitely sterling hallmarked for Sheffield, 1961. The maker initials EP&Co are probably for Ewart, Perkins & Co Ltd of Chancery Lane, London. The London address is not for the manufacturing premises, which were in Sheffield where the assay was requested.