I bought this set yesterday. Most R. Wallace forks and knives with a similar pattern list the number 1835 which is the year of the company’s founding, but the fork here says 835, not sure if anyone can make out what the knife says it’s extremely tiny and faded.
I’m wondering if the 835 in this case stands for 83.5% silver.
The fork + the handle of the knife are not magnetic. In one of the pictures you see the knife in polished, in the other I had polished it some. Thanks!
If there were a “1” before the 835, where there is enough space for it, the gap to its left would be similar to the gap after WALLACE. This implies to me that the original casting may have been faulty. As it is electroplate there is zero chance of it being 835 silver.
The magnet test is pretty meaningless as not all base metals are magnetic.
Phil
In fact, almost totally meaningless. The only thing it tells you is that the object isn’t made of iron. Almost no other commonly-used metal is magnetic. I believe the only exceptions are cobalt and near-pure nickel, neither of which you’re likely to encounter.
