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Hi everyone, I'm really grateful for this forum and for all of the info contained within 925-100.

I have seen the Reed and Barton "Holiday" #113 pattern and I realize it is silver plated. However, I have noticed that the Holiday pattern is clearly marked as such in the example pieces I've seen online.

My piece is pretty soft metal, I can bend it with my hands (not that I would). I have not been able to distinguish if this piece is silver plated or sterling, although sterling or .925 is not marked anywhere on this piece. Can someone confirm this is a plated piece and NOT sterling?

My subject line is confusing, apologies. Really just want to confirm that this is silver plate. I'm Really enjoying looking at the other posts in this forum section as well :)

From the little information that there is out there about Reed and Barton, I would say that you are correct in thinking that this is a Sterling piece from 1935.

Apparently Reed and Barton began marking all copper based pieces with and A inside a C which stood for "copper alloy" in 1945.

So any piece marked reed and barton, that doesn't mention CA, copper allow, epns, etc... is presumably sterling silver.

The tough part would be convincing anybody else what I just told you, (admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

Hi Bill ~ welcome to the forums.

There would be no absolutely no reason for Reed & Barton to leave the desirable 'Sterling' mark off of your piece - it is silverplate. It would also be incorrect to assume that a lack of silverplate marks indicates a piece is sterling silver, silverplate often has no indicator of metal content.

If I'm reading correctly, you are wondering why there is no 'Holiday' mark on your piece, it is early for the pattern and there is a possibility that it didn't even have a pattern name in 1935 - the pieces marked as 'Holiday' have typical mid 20th century marks and originally bore foil labels indicating they were silverplate.

~Cheryl

Yes, I'm in agreement with Cheryl here. If a piece could be stamped "Sterling", "925" etc it would be by the maker, in order to confirm/reinforce the quality and value - the lack of such a sterling silver or silver content mark usually means that it isn't sterling silver or doesn't have appreciable silver content.

Waylander

Thank you all, this is like a treasure hunt and it is quite entertaining.

Look for my next piece coming up, another R&B with a 1936 mark.

-Bill :)