Hi All,
looking for some help identifying material and perhaps a bit of history regarding an old ladle which has fallen into my lap.
I’m thinking it may be Old Sheffield Plate, but as an amateur, I’m not really sure where to start proving my theory. Pretty sure its markings show it was made by someone called Pearson who worked out of Nottinghill. It’s not magnetic and I can see in patches where an outer layer has been worn back to a different metal underneath. If anyone can offer up some info it would be most appreciated. I’ll leave some photos with this post. Hopefully they come through correctly.
The “magnet” test tells you only that it’s not iron. Since iron was virtually never used as the base metal for plating, it’s not very enlightening! The base metal of Old Sheffield Plate is usually copper.
Thanks Jeff. so what might be the best way to confirm it’s Old Sheffield Plate? Looking at Pearson’s history he fits the timeline and product. Is there any other tricks to confirming OSP?
Well, there’s no magic test to determine what it is. Since the plating on Old Sheffield Plate is thicker than what results from electroplating, you can sometimes examine the edges of a piece, and actually be able to see where the two materials come together.
The clincher is the date. Electroplating was invented in about 1840, so any silverplated piece before that date made use of the more mechanical plating technique. And since electroplating was much easier, and, more important, used vastly less precious silver, the older technique died out pretty quickly.
