Antique Victorian (1890's) Cooper Bros Ltd “Sheffield Plated Silver On Copper” Large Salt Pot.
“Used – Very good condition”
Antique Victorian (1890's) Cooper Bros Ltd “Sheffield Plated Silver On Copper” Large Salt Pot.
N.B. This item is tarnished, but can easily be cleaned and polished. I haven't bothered to remove the tarnish, as many people prefer them tarnished as it shows age and gives character to the item.
''It is far easier to remove the tarnish, than to replace it.
Silver Plate
The
two common forms of plated silver are Sheffield plate and
silver-plate/electroplate.
Sheffield Plate is a cheaper substitute
for sterling, produced by fusing sheets of silver to the top and
bottom of a sheet of copper or base metal. This 'silver sandwich' was
then worked into finished pieces. At first it was only put on one
side and later was on top and bottom.
Modern electroplating was
invented by Italian chemist Luigi V. Brugnatelli in 1805. Brugnatelli
used his colleague Alessandro Volta's invention of five years
earlier, the voltaic pile, to facilitate the first electrodeposition.
Unfortunately, Brugnatelli's inventions were repressed by the French
Academy of Sciences and did not become used in general industry for
the following thirty years.
Silver plate or electroplate is formed
when a thin layer of pure or sterling silver is deposited
electrolytically on the surface of a base metal. By 1839, scientists
in Britain and Russia had independently devised metal deposition
processes similar to Brugnatelli's for the copper electroplating of
printing press plates.
Soon after, John Wright of Birmingham,
England, discovered that potassium cyanide was a suitable electrolyte
for gold and silver electroplating.
Wright's associates, George
Elkington and Henry Elkington were awarded the first patents for
electroplating in 1840. These two then founded the electroplating
industry in Birmingham England from where it spread around the
world.
Common base metals include copper, brass, nickel silver -
an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel - and Britannia metal - a tin
alloy with 5-10% antimony.
Electroplated materials are often
stamped EPNS for electroplated nickel on silver, or EPBM for
electroplated Britannia metal.
N.B. The salt pot is in good condition.
Dimensions:
Height: 20.5 cm
Width: 7.5 cm
Weight: 342 g
Thank you for looking and the best of luck if you decide to bid.