AMERICAN SILVERPLATE MARKS MARKS AND HALLMARKS OF USA AND CANADA SILVER PLATE AND ELECTROPLATED SILVER MAKERS

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Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	WALTER LAMPL
	LANDERS, FRARY & CLARK - New Britain, CT A partnership of George M. Landers and Josiah Dewey in 1842. It became Landers & Smith Mfg Co in 1853 and Landers, Frary & Clark in 1865. Landers, Frary & Clark bought Meriden Cutlery Co in 1866 and continued to use its trademark. Out of business in the 1960s
further marks in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	ALPHONSE LA PAGLIA - Meriden, CT Alphonse La Paglia was born in Italy and worked in the 1940' for Georg Jensen Inc.
further marks in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LA PIERRE MFG CO - Newark, NJ Founded in 1888 by Frank H. La Pierre. Purchased in 1929 by International Silver Company.
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LA SECLA, FRIED & CO
	LAVIN & LAUER CO - New York, NY Active in the 1920s
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	WILLIAM LAWLER
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LEBKUECHER & CO
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LEBOLT & CO
	LEHMAN BROTHERS SILVERWARE CORP - New York, NY active around 1930'
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LENOX SILVER INC
	LEONARD - Taunton MA A division of Reed & Barton
	LEONARD SILVER MANUFACTURING COMPANY - Boston MA Founded in 1969 by Leonard Florence in Chelsea MA. Acquired by Towle Silversmiths in 1978. Now a product line of International Silver Company and Wallace Silversmiths Inc.
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LEWIS BROS.
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	WILLIAM LINK CO.
	LIPMAN-LEVINTER INDUSTRIES- Toronto, Ontario - Canada active 1930 c. Viking Plate is its trade mark
	LIPPIATT SILVER PLATE AND ENGRAVING CO - New York incorporated in 1870. Ceased before 1874.
	L.A. LITTLEFIELD SILVER CO - New Bedford MA Founded in 1884 by Needham and L.A. Littlefield. The firm was consolidated with Rockford Silver Plate Co in 1909, moving to Rockford, IL
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	P.H. LOCKLIN & SONS
	THOMAS LONG COMPANY - Boston MA Manufacturer of sterling silver and silverplate. Active until c. 1945
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	DANIEL LOW & CO
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LUNT SILVERSMITHS
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	LUXEMBERG UNIFORM COMPANY
Marks and information in AMERICAN STERLING SILVER section	W.H. LYON

The two common forms of plated silver are Sheffield plate and silverplate/electroplate.
Sheffield Plate is a cheaper substitute for sterling, produced by fusing sheets of silver to the top and bottom of a sheet of copper or base metal. This 'silver sandwich' was then worked into finished pieces. At first it was only put on one side and later was on top and bottom.
Modern electroplating was invented by Italian chemist Luigi V. Brugnatelli in 1805. Brugnatelli used his colleague Alessandro Volta's invention of five years earlier, the voltaic pile, to facilitate the first electrodeposition. Unfortunately, Brugnatelli's inventions were repressed by the French Academy of Sciences and did not become used in general industry for the following thirty years.
Silver plate or electroplate is formed when a thin layer of pure or sterling silver is deposited electrolytically on the surface of a base metal. By 1839, scientists in Britain and Russia had independently devised metal deposition processes similar to Brugnatelli's for the copper electroplating of printing press plates.
Soon after, John Wright of Birmingham, England, discovered that potassium cyanide was a suitable electrolyte for gold and silver electroplating.
Wright's associates, George Elkington and Henry Elkington were awarded the first patents for electroplating in 1840. These two then founded the electroplating industry in Birmingham England from where it spread around the world.
Common base metals include copper, brass, nickel silver - an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel - and Britannia metal-a tin alloy with 5-10% antimony. Electroplated materials are often stamped EPNS for electroplated nickel or silver, or EPBM for electroplated Britannia metal.
Sheffield plate by the fusion process was not made in America, but factories here did turn out quantities of electroplated silver. In fact, it was so popular that one English firm with several variations of its name, but all including Dixon, sold quantities of electroplated silver, issued catalogues, and even had a New York showroom.
Today there is a great deal of American plated silver which has been treasured for years. Many families had plated silver as well as fine sterling. Some of it was inherited; some prized for sentimental reasons. If you have this plated ware, and it is as dear to you as fine early silver, then you are among the happy people of this world.
On plated silver the terms 'triple' and 'quadruple' indicate the number of coatings received by the base metal in the electroplating process. Naturally the more metal used in the plating the longer the piece should last. Polishing and wear have taken their toll of much of this plated ware and whether pieces are worth replating depends on their usefulness and your pleasure in them. If you like them well enough to spend money on them, then by all means have the work done, but remember a piece is worth at market value only the metal that is in it, the base metal under the plating being worth very little.

E.P.N.S. (Electroplated Nickel Silver) and EPBM (Electroplated Britannia Metal) are the most common names attributed to silver plate items. But many other names are used for silver plate:
EPWM, Electroplate on White Metal, EPC, Electroplate On Copper, EPCA, Electro Plated Copper Alloy, EPGS - Electro Plated German Silver, EPMS - Electro Plated Magnetic Silver, African Silver, Albion Silver, Alpha Plate, Ambassador Plate, Angle Plate, Argentium, Argentine Plate, Argentum, Ascetic, Austrian Silver, Brazilian Silver, Britanoid, Cardinal Plate, Electrum, Embassy Plate, Encore, Exquisite, Insignia Plate, Kingsley Plate, New Silver, Nevada Silver, Norwegian Silver, Pelican Silver, Potosi Silver, Royal County Plate, Silva Seal, Silverite, Sonora Silver, Spur Silver, Stainless Nickel, Stainless Nickel Silver, Unity Plate, Venetian Silver, Welbeck Plate,

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