I have an old sterling mirror and brush set. This is my first time posting here so I hope I do everything correctly including posting the photos.
Could you tell me please how old it is? Also who might have made it and any other identifying information you might know. I don’t know anything about sterling and am flying blind.
It is a matched pair and the 3 hallmarks on the top of each piece are identical but then the information underneath the hallmarks are not the same.
On the brush, there are the three hallmarks, then it says “Sterling, 603C” and a crescent moon shape.
And on the mirror, it has the same three hallmarks, then it says “Sterling, C 300” or C 500. Not sure which. What do the numbers mean?
Hi there Tere, and thanks for joining us here on silver-collector. Your items are American, made by Gorham. The marks - the right-facing lion, the anchor, and the old English “G” are the old Gorham marks. The numbers underneath are the pattern number for each item.
Gorham used date marks on some holloware like your set from 1868 until about 1931. I have a book with those date marks and on your first photo I see a mark that I can’t identify (not clear) below the pattern number, see none on the other item. Take a real close look at the mark under the pattern number and let me know what you think it is…may be a letter (a-z) or another mark (key, horseshoe, etc) and perhaps I can date it for you…my guess is about 1890-1920 from the style. These items are hot right now and I’d guess they are worth about $200-400 as a set at auction, more at retail.
Hello and thank you so much for helping me with these.
I’m not sure which piece you’re talking about that I should look at again. Do you mean the brush (second photo) where I said, “On the brush, there are the three hallmarks, then it says “Sterling, 603C” and a crescent moon shape.”
Is it the crescent moon shape that you want me to take another look at? If so, it definitely looks like a crescent moon. If not, could you be more specific with which piece has the mark in question?