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.

	KAYSER, ELLISON & CO Sheffield
	KEEP BROTHERS Birmingham
	KEMP BROTHERS Bristol Business established in 1890 at 4 Union Street Bristol. Partners were Charles Wilson Kemp, Charles Milford Kemp, Arthur Sidney Kemp, Ella Gladys Kemp and Harry E. Tyrrell.

	KENDAL & DENT London watchmakers at 106 Cheepside, London. Business established in 1871. In 1883 James Francis Kendal entered a sterling silver mark at London Assay Office
	KERR & PHILLIPS Glasgow Active in Gordon Street, Glasgow. Entered various sterling silver marks (19th and 20th century) in Glasgow Assay Office
	KESWICK SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ART Keswick School of Industrial Art (KSIA) was founded in 1884 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and his wife Edith as an evening class of repoussé‚ metalwork in the Crosthwaite Parish Rooms, just outside Keswick, Cumbria. The school closed in 1984, having faced increasing pressure from imported goods
	KING'S LTD Hull not identified
	KIRBY, BEARD & CO LTD Birmingham & Redditch Active in Lion Works, Birmingham. Manufacturers of pins and needles
	THOMAS E. KITCHIN & CO Sheffield Manufacturers of cutlery of all kinds since c. 1868
	T. LAND & SON Sheffield active at 107 Trafalgar St, (1901-1908) and Colonial Works, Queens Rd, (1909-1977). Formerly trading as Land & Oxley, the firm was converted to a Ltd in 1909. In 1952 the business was taken over by E.H. Parkin continuing activity until 1977 under its own name. The firm used the trade mark CIVIC
	LARDER & BURGESS Sheffield Active at 144 Eyre St (1900-1905), 38A Matilda St (1906-1923), 156 Eyre St (1924-1932), 10-12 Regent St, Sheffield (1933-1940)
	THOMAS LATHAM & ERNEST MORTON Birmingham Founded in Birmingham by Thomas Latham and Henry Morton in mid 19th century. The firm was converted into a limited liability company in 1915 under the style Latham & Morton Ltd.
	G.H. LAUBENBURGH & CO Birmingham not identified
	LEE & WIGFULL Sheffield Active in John Street Works, Sheffield. George Shadford Lee and Henry Wigfull partnership was dissolved in 1870. The business was continued by Henry Wigfull under the same style and address (John Street Works, Sheffield). The firm was converted in 1899 into a limited liability company under the style of Lee & Wigfull Ltd. The firm used the trade marks INSIGNIA PLATE and BRITISH (but the mark 'British' was used also by Benjamin Grayson & Son)
	FREDERICK EWBANK LEEFE London Business established by F.E. Leefe in 1857 at Goswell Road, Clerkenwell, London. After the death of F.E. Leefe the business was continued by his son Arthur Leefe. In 1902 entered as partners Arnold Neale Baily and Thomas House Bates. Out of business in 1926 c.
	E & J LEEK Birmingham (possibly)
	LEVESLEY BROTHERS Sheffield Active at Central Works 102 West St (1863-1870), Bow St and 1 Sands Paviours (1871-1877) 74-77 Mary St (1878-1929) and 203 Arundel St, Sheffield (1930-1935).
	S.J. LEVI & CO Birmingham Active at Squirrel Works, Regent Place, Birmingham (c.1900-c.1935). The firm used the trade marks LEVIATHAN PLATE and SQUIRREL BRAND
	JAMES LEWIS & SONS Sheffield Active at 149A London Rd, Sheffield (1894-1909)
	LEWIS, ROSE & CO Sheffield (possibly) Active at Debesco Works, Eyre Street, Sheffield. The firm partecipated to British Industries Fair of 1929 and 1947
	LIBERTY & CO London Founded by Arthur Lasemby Liberty in 1875 as Liberty & Co. In 1894 the firm became Liberty & Co Ltd. The firm used the trade mark TUDRIC
	ALFRED LINDLEY Sheffield Active at Richmond Works (1881-1887), 99 Napier St, (1888-1890) and 25-27 Eyre St, Sheffield (1891-1897)
	LINDSAY & PAISLEY LTD Glasgow Jewellers & Silversmiths (Wholesale and Manufacture) at Gordon St. and (possibly) Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow. Lindsay & Paisley registered sterling silver marks (L&P) in Glasgow Assay Office since 1898 (last 1936, also in Edinburgh Assay Office). Lunar Plate was a trade mark for silver plate production.
	LINGARD & BAKER Birmingham
	LISTER & SON Newcastle on Tyne
	LOCKWOOD BROTHERS LTD Sheffield A subsidiary of Joseph Elliot & Sons Ltd. Lockwood Brothers Limited was active at 74 Arundel Street (1855-1893) and at Spital Hill Works, Sheffield (1894-1922). Established 1767, incorporated 30th June 1891, the firm was the owner of John Sorby and Sons ('Pampa' and 'I. and H. Sorby' trademarks). The firm started electroplating in 1884
	H.G. LONG & CO Sheffield
	WILLIAM HENRY LYDE Birmingham active c.1881

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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