posted on August 5, 2006 09:19:54 PM
I am stumped. I have a silver round thing that holds a plate of food to serve at a table. This belonged to my elderly neighbor. I don't know if this was her's or her mom's. It appears to be tarnished silver. I used a magnifying glass to look for wear thru silver plating and I don't see any. (Of course that doesn't mean too much) It is probably silver plate. Alot of the serving pieces I have from my grandmother are plated and are no older than 1920s. The handles and feet on this one are NOT silver and are probably pot metal of some sort. On the bottom of each handle is marked I.S. Co with a C in a circle. Could this be International Silver Company? I don't see any stamps anywhere. The pieces like this from my grandmother and I have seen in other places, have no stamps or ID marks so this is a tad interesting. I'd like to id the MFG'er and date it if possible.
[ edited by paloma91 on Aug 5, 2006 09:20 PM ]
posted on August 5, 2006 10:43:41 PM
Paloma, what size is this "thingie"? Is it like a trivet or one of those holders into which fit baking dishes? Or is it more like a charger plate? A photo would probably help a lot here.
posted on August 6, 2006 04:06:08 AM
I don't know about anyone else, but I have found that silver plate items are very poor sellers. I had a very nice tea set with tray in my store for about a year. Good quality very attractive but I finally took it off after reducing it down to $5 with no interest. I don't think people want the bother of cleaning it.
posted on August 6, 2006 04:06:25 AM
I don't know about anyone else, but I have found that silver plate items are very poor sellers. I had a very nice tea set with tray in my store for about a year. Good quality very attractive but I finally took it off after reducing it down to $5 with no interest. I don't think people want the bother of cleaning it.
posted on August 6, 2006 07:27:26 AM
Thingie is quicker to write in a title than whatchamacallit, don't you think? (grin)
yes, Roadie, it's the same thing that they put baking dishes and casserole dishes in. I don't think It's worth much. I knew that. You see these things at 2nd hand stores all the time. I have not seen one marked before. The mark: S. I. Co is so tiny, I needed a magifying glass to see it. It is very clear, just very tiny. I tried looking up silver marks and silver plated marks last night and couldn't find it anywhere.
It would be nice to date and positively id the mark.
[ edited by paloma91 on Aug 6, 2006 07:27 AM ]
posted on August 6, 2006 08:14:51 AM
S.I. rings a bell; I think I just sold a big carafe with that mark but the meaning of the letters escapes me just now. Have you googled for that mark? The carafe was very old and it brought around $50, as I recall.
Silver is too hard to maintain, given that the silver polishers have tended to be the housewives. I don't know of any husbands in our acquaintance who like to polish silver! So many women are busy working etc. I know that I don't use my large amount of wedding silver, and our sterling flatware just sits in a box. We also don't like to handwash in the kitchen, do we? My sister-in-law puts her sterling in the dishwasher, just making sure it doesn't come into contact with other items, and she swears by it, but I'm timid about that.
If silver is old enough, it'll bring something. But my thoughts for you are that if you have the thingie but not the dish to go into the thingie, you might as well donate it!
posted on August 6, 2006 08:38:23 AM
Roadie, I know I could donate it. I thought of keeping it since I have my grandma's sst. Her's is a complete matching set: it has casserole dishes and lids, pie plates etc. The holders are nothing as nice as this though. I could put her veggie dish and lid in this one and toss the old one. I was just curious about the mark. I also have spoons and other silverware that is from the 1800s Kind of cool but don't know what I am going to do with it all yet.
Did you know that when they sold button shoes, they gave away a shoe button hook thingie?! I have one of these things too. It has the shoe store's name on it. I have never seen one of those before. I have a silver one that is part of a boudour )can't spell) set of grandma's. Mirror, brush, comb, clothes brush etc but never seen one that was a give away!
posted on August 6, 2006 03:31:17 PM
Thanks so much Twig, for checking. HUMMM maybe it's really old. Most of this other stuff is. I hope it's a solvable mystery.
1 out of 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Take a look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem alright, you're the one! - Kyle Stubbins, CMS