ENGLISH ELECTROPLATE SILVER MARKS AND HALLMARKS OF ENGLISH SILVER PLATE

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.

	T.W. EATON & CO Sheffield Active at 19 New Church St (1864-1898) and 220 Solly St, Sheffield (1899-1911). Electroplating was started in 1904
	ELKINGTON & CO LTD Birmingham Elkington & Co HISTORY, MARKS, DATE LETTERS
	ELKINGTON, MASON & CO Birmingham
	JOSEPH ELLIOT & SONS Sheffield Joseph Elliot and Sons (Sheffield) Limited was established as a private limited company in 1927. The company's history however dates back to the Joseph Elliot and Sons business that was founded in 1795 at 4 Hollis Croft, Sheffield. In 1921 Joseph Elliot and Sons was incorporated by Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturers Limited. The firm was active at Hollis Croft (until 1923), Spital Works, Spital St. (until 1926), Granville Works, 1 Sylvester St., Sheffield (from 1926) changing its name to Cutlery Agencies Limited. In the early 1970s the firm was taken by J Dewsnap Bowler Limited, Sylvester Works, Sylvester Street, Sheffield. Subsidiaries of Joseph Elliot and Sons (Sheffield) Limited include: I. and J. Barber, Colquhoun and Cadman Limited, Thomas Ellin and Company Limited, Lockwood Brothers Limited, John Wigfall and Company Limited, John Wilson and Company Limited
	CHARLES ELLIS & CO Sheffield Active at 39-57 Norfolk St, Sheffield (1855-1900)
	E P B M a generic mark for Electro Plated Britannia Metal used together or inside maker's mark
	E P C A a generic mark for Electro Plated Copper Alloy used together or inside maker's mark
	E P G S a generic mark for Electro Plated German Silver used together or inside maker's mark
	E P N S a generic mark for Electro Plated Nickel Silver used together or inside maker's mark
	EP ON COPPER a generic mark for Electro Plated wares used together or inside maker's mark
	EPWM a generic mark for Electro Plated White Metal used together or inside maker's mark
	SAMUEL EVANS & SONS Birmingham Active c. 1875
	S.F. EVANS & CO Birmingham Active c. 1894

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 B. B. S. Ltd, Ashberry, Austrian Silver, Brazilian Silver D&A Trademark of Daniel and Arter, Buxbridge - Trademark name of JT&Co., Electrum, Encore TT&Co Trademark of T. Turner, Exquisite, HH&S , I.XL Geo. Wostenholm & Son, Insignia Plate, JB&S EP A1, JD&S = John Dixon & Sons, K & TL , M&W Mappin and Webb, N.S. New Silver, Nevada Silver D&A Trademark of Daniel and Arter, Norwegian Silver; Trademark of WG&S, Pelican Silver JGNS, Potosi Silver N&S WP, RN&S EP Neill, Silverite = Trademark of W P & Co , Sonora Silver = Trademark of Walker and Hall, Spur Silver = Trademark of E B & Co for Edwin Blyde & Co, Stainless N. S., Stainless Nickel, Stainless Nickel Silver, Venetian Silver - Trademark of Deykin & Sons, WF&SS EP

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