www.925-1000.com

Hey everyone,

New here. Want to thank you for a great board and a wonderful site. I use it regularly for identification. I have a Sheffield Reproduction meat tray marked with trademark from Forbes Silver Co., with the number 20 to the right, and further to the right it says 16 in. I am trying to get a better idea of when this was made. What I have found in my research, of course here, but also other sites and The Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers 3rd Edition, is this:
I know the Forbes Silver Co was formed as a division of the Meriden Britannia Co. in 1894 that silver plated hollow ware, and that Meriden helped with the formation of IS in 1898. I also know that if marked as Sheffield Reproduction it would be silver over copper. I found most of that info searching the forum here and comparing to the book mentioned above. The same post mentioned that IS stopped using the Forbes trademarks around 1935, but in the book under the mark listings for IS they don't list the Forbes marks. My question is this...based on the info above, was this tray produced between 1894-1898? I haven't been able to find a reference to what the "20" means to the right of the marks, anyone help there? Or am I missing some information? I am only posting 2 pics here, but will include the link at bottom for whole album, as it contains 11 pics total including another Forbes mark.




Whole album link: http://s1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj5 ... roduction/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry if not supposed to post links, thought ok because just album link. TIA to anyone that can provide some info.

Billy

PS- Anyone that wishes may use or reproduce any of the pics I post or are contained in my albums without consent

Hi Billy - welcome to the forums.

'Sheffield Reproductions', supposedly based on Old Sheffield Plate designs, were produced by numerous American silverplate manufacturers, and while some were electroplate on copper (and marked as such), most were nickel silver base and were often marked 'EPNS' or 'NS' (several companies agreed in 1922 to only use quality plating on a nickel silver base of at least 10% for their Sheffield reproductions). Those I've handled that didn't indicate the base metal, showed nickel silver at the wear points (your pics seem to show this is the case on your piece). From the 1920s to '40s, there were numerous complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, concerning the deceptive marketing of items that were not actually made in Sheffield, England, were not Sheffield (fused) plate, and were often not even replicas of 'Sheffield Plate' in design, also an issue with the name of the 'Sheffield Silver Co.' - a number of manufacturers and retailers were against the use of "Sheffield" at all.....

The '20' on your piece is a production/style/catalog number; most of the Forbes items I've seen with your mark seem to date from right around the 1920s or a bit later; International had phased out most of their individual factory marks by the mid '30s, but they would sometimes start using an old name and/or trademark at a later date, often well past the mid 20th century mark. Some names didn't really go out of use, can remember seeing advertising for their '1847 Rogers' silverplate flatware into the 1980s, and do know that they used the Forbes name in the '60s-'70s, but the trademark was different from yours.

~Cheryl

Thank you for the information Cheryl. I thought it was over nickel silver, but I found the reference to Forbes Sheffield Reproductions being silver on copper when I was researching here before, so questioned my own judgement. I would like to add the info you have provided to my compilation of info on IS and affiliates. Would that be ok? I know there are rules here and just wanted to ask. If ever used would give you and this forum credit.

Billy

No problem in using the information, I'd done some research on the Sheffield repros, have some bits of info stashed away in my files. Have other stuff on Int'l too, concerning a variety of miscellaneous areas - most likely only of interest to me.....

~Cheryl