I have a hairbrush and hand mirror with 3 symbols, middle one is an anchor with the numbers c823 on one and c842 on the other. Any ideas on age/maker?
Gorham Gorham Silver Marks & Dates - Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1620776350/gorham-antique-repousse-sterling-silver
20th Century.
May I offer two possibly slightly prosaic comments on your presentation of the evidence?
First silver is difficult to photograph because it reflects light deceptively, indeed it is designed to. Secondly, if you remove decades of black gunk from the images you want Bart and others to identify and then focus a high pixel count camera very tightly, the answers he/they will be able to give you will be much less fuzzy than “20th century.”
I guess that’s three observations.
US citizens are particularly guilty of presenting dirty silver. A retailer, probably bored with cleaning his wares, convinced his customers that dirty things --silver, furniture, toys even bottles of wines, were preferable — his expression would have been “more important” – than properly cleaned and restored material.
The black gunk on silver is a mixture of old jeweller’s polish, granulated silver the said polish has previously removed and grease from hundreds of hands and, in the case of hair brushes, heads. Unleashed, its bacteria count, despite the prophylactic capabilities of silver would be through the roof.
Tools to clean silver with are important and many on this site have provided sterling advice on the matter (that pun was inevitable, sorry.) I start with an ordinary dish soap and a brush that can get in the cracks and crevasses. Have patience, it’s taken a century for your hairbrush to get this grubby. Yes it looks like 1922.
That failing there are some highly toxic, commercial “silver dips” which again assisted by a brush will remove it . Dipping per se is a waste of time, especially now Haggerty et al have lowered the concentration to avoid getting sued for killing off customers. Just wear gloves and don’t lick anything and you’ll probably live.
Those opposed to chemical removal of gunk state quite correctly it affects the patina of old silver. It does but this isn’t so whatever shine is lost can be polished back in with a soft cloth and some new jewellers polish which you can then wash off or just use an old polish rag with the polish dried into its fibres.
More serious spots requiring deeper cleaning and often appearing on perfectly plain surfaces can be rubbed out. Deep scratches, unless you are an American dealer and like deep scratches as signs of prior use, ergo antiquity, can be buffed out and, if you are nervous about the job, give it to a professional.
Grubby silver is just grubby and difficult to decipher silver marks.
Now silver surfaces constantly react to what’s in the air. Some people store their silver in the kitchen which has some of the most delectable to humans air in the house. Don’t. That is what butler’s pantries are for. If you live in a town and you like cars and other things that emit sulphurs, your silver is going to tell you what you are breathing along with just enough oxygen to keep you alive is rather bad for you.
The solution is to vacuum seal all the silver or leave. If you elect leaving stay well away from farmers who raise cattle or put nitrogen into the soil to grow stuff to feed you. Cow farts and potash make farmers among the two worst polluters in the world, exceeding even Chinese solar panel makers.
CRWW
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