indyzgal wrote:Can anyone help me with this prill gallery tray, is it silver or plated, and possible date on this item
To eliminate much of the glare and enhance the blunt graphical quality, I have flipped your image into a negative which makes a number of things clearer. Firstly, it is marked to the left of the armorial cartouche with a "P" and an "S" in their own circular cartouches, usually signifying "Plated Steel", something which is strengthened by the impression of considerable numbers of distinct rectilinear striations running bottom left to top right in your picture, suggesting this is close plated rather than electroplated.
(Close plating was/is a form of fusion plating where a thin foil of silver is bonded by heat to the base metal by means of a thin layer of tin acting as a 'solder' between the two principal metals. Heat is applied causing the tin to melt, acting as a 'glue', and fuse the two principal metals together. The striations are caused by the soldering iron applying the heat moving across the foil, rather in the manner of a clothes iron. Close plating was/is mainly applied to items like cutlery, salvers, platters, where the base metal to be plated was steel.)
The mark itself in the armorial cartouche appears to have been overstruck, the remains of the first strike still being visible at the top of the escutcheon. The overstrike mark is too damaged in/by the picture to say much about but for it to be a Prill mark you would have to be convinced that the symbol in the top right quadrant of the shield is a pair of crossed keys, and in the top left a lion (?) rampant. What's left of the first strike could indeed have a pair of crossed keys in the right quadrant. I've attached a pristine Prill mark as well as the negative of your picture (both are thumbnails) in case it can help things along.
All the best,
