E&Co, no city, two years

[ajf]

Hello,

I'm new to this so apologies if this is basic stuff. But we have a family heirloom silver teapot, very intricate and engraved in honour of a wedding in 1852. The picture of the hallmarks is shown below. I'm wondering if anyone can help fill the gaps here or correct my understanding?

* E&Co matches Elkington & Co of Birmingham
* The worn mark on the right is presumably the Sterling mark, although I am a bit surprised it and only it is worn.
* I don't see any city mark? Unless the mark on the right is actually the Exeter symbol, but why would a Birmingham manufacturer's output be assayed in Exeter.
* There are two year marks, M and is it E? Or C? Or G? Looking at pictures, E seems most likely to me, but expert eyes appreciated! If this was London, that would be 1840 and 1847, which puts it in the right ballpark if it was acquired and engraved only later. But why two years?
* What's the N in the diamond at the bottom?
* Is the 2392 anything to do with hallmarking?

Many thanks!

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

I hope I don't disappoint you too much.

Your item is silver-plated and made by Elkington, Mason & Co. (E.M. & co.). The date-letter 'N' indicates the year 1852. The '2392' would be an internal stock/order/model type code.

Trev.

[ajf]

Thank you very much @dognose for the analysis.

Is there any meaning to the E and M marks?

[ajf]

Thank you very much @dognose for the analysis.

Is there any meaning to the E and M marks?

Haha and as I posted that I suddenly realised - it's just a repetition of E, M & Co isn't it.

[ajf]

I appreciate this is drifting a little off the topic of marks now, but this has piqued my curiosity... I was wondering, does anybody know what kind of base metal would have been used for a teapot by Elkington in the 1850s? Would it have been copper? Or an alloy like copper/nickel?

And also, given it was engraved both with personal message and with decorations ... Would this have been done before the silver plating? I would assume so, given it would otherwise have cut through the plating... But maybe I'm missing something? Was this kind of "personalised message" a common service offered by manufacturers like Elkington at this time? Or would it have somehow been done after?

Many thanks in advance for any insights satisfying my curiosity and apologies if this is off-topic for this forum.