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.

	JOHN GALLIMORE Sheffield Active at 126-128 Eyre St. and Italian Works, 35-37 Matilda St (1876-1896)
	WILLIAM GALLIMORE WILLIAM GALLIMORE & CO WILLIAM GALLIMORE & SONS Sheffield Active at 17-19 Arundel St, Sheffield (1863-1891). Succeeded to William Gallimore, 42 School Croft, Sheffield, who started electroplating in 1858. In 1891 the firm became William Gallimore & Sons until 1927 (transformed in Ltd in 1923)
	GAMAGES London the trade mark of a retailer department store active in London from 1878 to 1972
	GARRARD & CO GARRARD & CO LTD London Founder of the firm was John Wickes in 1722. In 1802 Robert Garrard (senior) took the control of the firm active in Panton Street, Haymarket, London. In 1818 he was succeed by his three eldest sons, Robert Garrard Jr, James Garrard and Sebastian Garrard trading as R, J & S. Garrard. The firm became R. & S. Garrard in 1835, R. & S. Garrard & Co in 1843 and Garrard & Co Ltd in 1909. In 1952 the firm was amalgamated with Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd. The firm used the trade mark REGENT PLATE previously used by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co.
	GEE & HOLMES LTD Sheffield The firm used the trade marks SILVASEAL and HERITAGE PLATE
	GEORGE GIBBS Birmingham platers since 1808
	WILLIAM GIBSON & CO LTD Belfast A retailer active from 1888 at Donegall Place & Castle Place, Belfast and at 112, Regent Street, London (the latter is the address of Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co of which William Gibson was a founder). The firm acted as retailer of Atkin Brothers wares
	GIBSON & LANGMAN London A business established in 1880 by William Gibson and John Lawrence Langman. In 1882 the partnership became The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co.

	GIEVES LTD London Active at Old Bond Street, London (1928-1941)
	JOHN GILBERT JOHN GILBERT & CO JOHN GILBERT & SONS Birmingham & London Active at Legge St, Birmingham since 1812 as manufacturer of 'Old Sheffield Plate'. The firm was listed in 1865 as a silversmith and electroplater at Ryland Street North, Birmingham and office at Ely Place, Holborn, London. In 1880 the firm was converted into a limited liability company under the style of John Gilbert & Co Ltd. The firm used the trade mark ARGENTINA SILVER (but Argentina, or Merry's plate trade mark was claimed to be property of Edmund Heeley & Co)
	GILMOUR & WATSON Glasgow
	GLADWIN LTD Sheffield Active at Montgomery Works, (1921-1925) and Embassy Works, (1926-1936). The firm used the trade marks BRIMET, AMBASSADOR PLATE and EMBASSY PLATE

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,....