ENGLISH ELECTROPLATE SILVER MARKS AND HALLMARKS OF SHEFFIELD AND BIRMINGHAM SILVER PLATE MAKERS

WITH THE ADDITION OF OTHER BRITISH, SCOTTISH AND IRISH MAKERS

created by Giorgio B. owner of www.silvercollection.it ©

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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.

	VALE & CHARLES Birmingham
	VALE BROTHERS & SERMON Birmingham Active at Spencer St, Birmingham
	VINERS Sheffield The business was started around 1901 by Adolphe Viener, and his sons. Viners bought two ancient Sheffield firms of cutlers: Thomas Turner and Harrison Bro. & Howson. Other factories were in Hong Kong and Japan. Its production was distributed in the United States through Raimond Silver Mfg. Co Inc. One of the Sons Ruben Viner became the driving force and the firm prospered in the 1960 with a modern factory in Sheffield and subsidiaries in Ireland, France and Australia. But as the business grew far eastern imports started to flood in to the UK from the mid 1970s. They started importing cutlery to finish and Stamp "Made in Sheffield" on but the loans for the expansion were crippling the firm and they went bust in 1985. The brand is now owned by US based Oneida, the world's largest cutlery company.
	P.H. VOGEL & CO Birmingham Active at Warstone Parade, Birmingham

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, Argentium, Argentine Plate, Argentum, Ascetic, Austrian Silver, Brazilian Silver, Buxbridge, Electrum, Encore, Exquisite, Insignia Plate, Nevada Silver, Norwegian Silver, Pelican Silver, Potosi Silver, Silverite, Sonora Silver, Spur Silver, Stainless Nickel, Stainless Nickel Silver, Venetian Silver, W.M White Metal,....