I HAVE AN OAK ICE BUCKET/BARREL WITH SILVER/SILVER PLATING HANDLE AND TRIM. IT HAS A HALLMARK OF A FIGURE FACING RIGHT IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT IT HOLDING A BOW AND THE NUMBER 440 UNDERNEATH. WHAT DOES THIS NUMBER REFER TO. THANKS.
Hi Virginia,
I hope this is of some help. If the figure has wings (angel wings) and it’s in a shield shaped cartouche then the maker is almost certainly John Grinsell (founded about 1879 in Birmingham). As to the number I suspect that it may well have something to do with the quality (thickness) of the deposited silver. They had weird ways of measuring back then it had something to do with number of troy ounces of silver in the electrolyte which would plate 144 tea spoons. I think 2 ounces was standard.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Regards,
Tony