posted on March 3, 2008 11:51:08 AM new
Not a hallmark.
It's EPNS, designed to look like a hallmark. It's just a manufacturer's mark.
Some people take offense when I speak the blunt truth on this issue, but there is really no point spending time trying to figure out who the manufacturer is. It's just silverplate. If it were sterling, the situation would be different.
fLufF
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posted on March 3, 2008 02:01:55 PM new
I know no one cares about esoteric matters like the following (just like no one cares in another thread about how to write correct HTML) but the fact is that the manufacturer used those marks with the intent to deceive.
Silverplate makers knew then and know now that buyers associate Old English script with the English/Scottish/Irish hallmarking system for real silver, hence they identify it with quality and expensive ware that has intrinsic value even though the vast majority of silverplate is nothing of the kind.
I'm not talking here about Sheffield plate, which is in a category of its down.
But what sellers (mainly) need to realize when they find this stuff out in the field at garage sales is that it is 99.9% worthless base metal. The tiny fraction that is the silver coating adds no value, no matter if it does say "Quadruple Plate" or some other nonsense. That's just another tactic to make you think it contains some significant amount of silver.
Styles come and go, and sometimes you can flog a piece of silverplate to someone who likes the design, but unlike articles made out of precious metals, it has little intrinsic value.
fLufF
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