Can anyone help me identify this
It’s a pair of sugar tongs. But you were probably interested in the marks. BP = Britannia Plate; i.e. electroplated Britannia metal where Britannia metal is a pewter-like base metal alloy. W Bros, the manufacturer, is not identified - yet.
So I was wrong… ![]()
The most likely candidate for a pair of American tongs made of Britannia metal is Robert Wallace, a silversmith who learned as an apprentice how to use Britannia Metal and started his own company making spoons in an old grist mill out of it exclusively.
The only trouble with this theory is while he had three names for his highly successful company in the 19th century, by the time he called himself Wallace Brothers Silversmiths he had already purchased the right to use the Elkington German silver formula in the US so why would he revert to Britannia metal?
I am reliant to some extent upon the data posted in Wikipedia about Wallace the silversmith and the exploitation of Britannia Metal in the US in the 19th century by him and others.
The style, faux fiddle pattern cut out a single bar in the trans Atlantic fashion is right, 1810 to about 1840. and certainly Wallace was a frequent flyer when it came to the metal, but the nomenclature adoption is too late.
Why would he use Britannia metal once he had purchased the right to use nickel silver?
The only possibility is he had used W(allace) Bros prior to 1940 in his early development stages and this is a mark not previous recorded.
Or else it doesn’t belong to him at all. But that’s a problem too, as nobody else claims or uses it during the relevant period or at all.
CRWW


