Hi all I’m new to collecting could someone please help me with a question about a James Dixon & Sons tea pot I have along with the makers name there is the date 1925 then three numbers dotted round the makers name , 75 then a 7 then another 7 and there is no silver mark on the teapot.
I tried uploading a photo but it didn’t work.
Thanks in advance.
What’s the question?
Britannia metal is pewter, not silver.
As you have been told this is Britannia Metal, a form of pewter with a higher gloss finish. The mark in this form was used between 1841 and 1851 but after 1842 the pewter was routinely electro-plated. This isn’t. James Dixon & Sons never had a system of date marks and these marks are likely to identify type of product and the production run
“In 1842 James Dixon retired from the business. The firm was assumed by James Willis Dixon and a third son, Henry Issac Dixon, and a son-on-law, William Fawcett, became full partners.”
“The electroplating process introduced in the 1840s by Elkington was welcomed by Britannia metal manufacturers, who well accepted the concept of electroplating as a new business occasion. The original purpose of Britannia metal had been to provide a cheap substitute for silver and Sheffield Plate and the electroplating process brought them closer to their intent. Britannia metal plated well and no change in the production was required other than adding the plating process.”
Now because there was no chronological numbering used, just product runs these dates are guestimates at best, based on someone else’s research reiterated in the website referenced
herein.
There’s a James Dixon Britannia Metal teapot for sale on ebay for $138 Canadian
The value for your purposes may be a half to a third of that as this is essentially a retail price.
Christopher
Guildhall Antiques