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We recently purchased this item as part of a fish serving set, think it was English Sterling, but since the marks were worn we weren't sure and purchased the set anyway. We have since identified the set as Silver Plate made by William Hudson & Son(s) in Sheffield. What we would like to know is the years that the mark on our fork were used, as this will have a bearing on the material used to make the handles. Any help in dating our items will be greatly appreciated. H. Blake

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

The dating of silver plater's marks is always a minefield. They were, in the most part, unregistered, and the periods of there use were perhaps overlapping, and different marks used for different pieces.

Fish eaters appeared in the second half of the 19th century, and the maker of your pieces, William Hutton, added the '&' and 'S' to their marks in c.1864, when they became styled William Hutton & Son. The 'B' and 'P' marks inicate 'British Plate', an alloy used by Huttons as the base metal in their plating process. The marks that you show were certainly still in use when James Dixon & Sons acquired Huttons in 1931.

I feel your pieces are likely to be from the 1900-1930 period and as they are plated, rather than solid silver, then it is perhaps likely that the handles were made from xylonite, a celluloid product that was a popular choice by the Sheffield manufacturers as a material for the manufacture of flatware and cutlery handles since its introduction in the later years of the 19th century.

Trev.

Trey, thank you so much for your information.

After researching our set on the internet and in our copy of Jackson's Hallmarks for continental Sterling we had pretty much concluded the set was later rather than early Silverplate. We were thinking 20's or 30's but your information helped nail it down.

Also, while waiting a reply to our post I studied the handle material with a loup and concluded it was not horn or ivory, as indicated at the auction where we purchased the items. Using the "hot needle" method we determined the material was "plastic" of some kind, but with your information we now know more exactly what that material is.

We originally purchased the set to resell but now, since our daughter likes the set so much, it will be a Christmas gift to her and her husband.

Bryant