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Is this ladle marked MTL Plateado solid silver or silverplate?
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 9:07 am
by Cynnamon
Greetings:
I can manage most European silver since there's quite a bit of information on the topic. This ladle I'm not quite sure about. I know that plateado is Spanish for silver, but there's also numbers (14 & 92) and a Maltese cross marking. The ladle acid tests as silver. I'd appreciate your thoughts on the piece.
Thanks, Cynnamon
Re: Is this ladle marked MTL Plateado solid silver or silverplate?
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 10:00 am
by amena
PLATA is spanish for silver.
PLATEADO = Que está cubierto por una capa de plata is spanish for Which is covered by a layer of silver.
Re: Is this ladle marked MTL Plateado solid silver or silverplate?
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 11:22 am
by Cynnamon
Thank you for clarify the term for me. This reading indicated silver when I performed an acid/scratch test. The liquid was red along the scratch mark and it came up red when I blotted the area on a paper towel.
Re: Is this ladle marked MTL Plateado solid silver or silverplate?
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 12:02 pm
by amena
Performing the acid test requires some attention.
It is not a good idea to scrape an area of a flat surface, as it is difficult to be sure that you have reached the base metal, and in any case the scrape mark remains clearly visible.
on the other hand, it is more suitable to scratch in a point where the surface is very convex, for example the top of the handle.
With a good stroke of a file you are sure that you have removed all the silver layer and the uncovered area will not be very visible.
In any case, if you have any doubts left, try googling
MTL.PLATEADO
and you will see the results.
Best regards
Amena
Re: Is this ladle marked MTL Plateado solid silver or silverplate?
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 12:32 pm
by Cynnamon
Aha, thank you! Did Google a bit and needed to translated since every description was in either Spanish or French. The following description verifies your information (taken from Todocoleccion website): "Description:
- Silver plated brass tray with stamp.
- The stamp appears on the edge of the tray: M.E. mtl. Silver. g.
- The meaning of the seal appears in the 1935 regulation. It indicates that the plating must be defined with the expression silver that will appear next to the legend Mtl (silver metal) accompanied by a G (galvanic coating), within a horizontal oval of free dimensions.
- The tray is in the modernist style, from the beginning of the 20th century, approximately.
- Bordering the tray there is a very nice modernist style border.