I know my mom inherited this from my grandma, who got it from mom, who came from England to Canada at the turn of the century. My mom thinks it’s a set for serving salt?
The label on it isn’t clear in the picture, but it says “Arthur Jack The Promenade Cheltenham”. I’ve been able to find some information on Arthur Jack & Co, but nothing that helps me to identify what this is.
I’m sorry the pictures are not great. I’m new to this and didn’t read the sticky for how to photograph silver and I realize I should have photographed the cups individually
The blurry, sort of clover leaf shaped marking is on the bottom of each of the cups, and the what looks to be handgraved writing on each of the bottom of the cups but I can’t get a good enough picture. I used a magnifying glass, and couldn’t quite make them out
Your mother was right (they always are aren’t they?). The individual bowls are often simply called “salts”.
The label has the name of the retailers, not the manufacturers; this was (and is) normal. The manufacturer’s mark WW&JH is that of a Sheffield company, White, Henderson & Co, who were producing silverware in the 3rd and 4th quarters of the 19th century. I would have expected this set to be silver and to have a set of hallmarks on each piece so I am surprised that you have not mentioned them or provided a picture. If there is no hallmark then the “handgraved writing” should give us some further clues. In any case pictures are essential. Using a magnifying glass is a very good idea but please try to get the marks in focus - it’s better to be smaller and in-focus than large and blurry.
Thank you for all the info. And I’m sorry, they actually are silver. I’m just new to photographing silver and I meant to mention that, but I had my 2 year old and 7 month old putting me through the ringer today, so I’m sorry for spacing that out. Here is the best picture I could get with using a photo editor to make the hand engraving look more legible. It’s so light and so tiny, that I couldn’t even read it in person. But I can definitely try to get a better picture when I go to my parents probably tomorrow
And I looked for hallmarks, but all I found was the hand engraving and the manufacturer symbol you told me about. I’ve found hallmarks on the other pieces of silver serving items, like spoons and forks, and what looks like knives. But these didn’t have the hallmarks
“No 402” looks like some sort of stock identity number and doesn’t have any useful significance. If there are no other marks (not even on the spoons?) then it is most likely that they are electroplated rather than solid silve. White, Henderson & Co were electroplaters as well as silversmiths so electroplate is very possible.