The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chats on Old Sheffield Plate, by Arthur Hayden This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Chats on Old Sheffield Plate Author: Arthur Hayden Release Date: March 1, 2015 [EBook #48392] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE *** Produced by Chris Curnow, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE COMPANION VOLUME BY THE SAME AUTHOR CHATS ON OLD SILVER CONTENTS CHAPTER I. The Marks stamped upon Silver II. Ecclesiastical Plate III. The Mazer, the Standing Cup, the Flagon, the Tankard, the Beaker, the Wine Cup IV. The Salt Cellar V. The Spoon VI. The Posset Pot, the Porringer VII. The Candlestick VIII. The Teapot, the Coffee Pot, the Tea Caddy IX. The Caster, the Sugar Bowl, the Cream Pail, the Cake Basket X. The Cream Jug XI. Scottish Silver XII. Irish Silver Appendix.—Tables of Date Letters, London (1598-1905)—Table of Differences in Shields, London (Elizabeth to George V)—Illustrations of Marks, London, Provincial, Scottish and Irish OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CENTREPIECE. On circular base, with nine plated wire baskets for glass dishes on spiral branches. Date 1775-1780. (In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq.) Frontispiece. CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE BY ARTHUR HAYDEN AUTHOR OF "CHATS ON OLD SILVER," "CHATS ON OLD CLOCKS" ETC. WITH FRONTISPIECE AND 58 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING 5 PAGES OF MAKERS' MARKS T . F I S H E R U N W I N L T D LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE First published 1920 Second Impression 1924 (All rights reserved) TO MY FRIEND WALTER IDRIS, IN APPRECIATION OF KINDRED RECOGNITION PREFACE Many readers have importuned me to write a companion volume to my Chats on Old Silver, to complete the chain of evolution of the metal-smith's art in regard to silver plate and silver plated ware. Accordingly this volume appears as a complementary and companion volume to that on "Old Silver," and although the former describes the history and character of the silversmiths' work from Elizabeth to Victoria, the present volume covers a much shorter period, approximately a hundred years, when the plater's skill, in what is now generally known as old Sheffield Plate, of superimposing a thin sheet of silver on a copper base, won a triumph in the great art of simulation until it was superseded by the modern electro-plating process. The invention was discovered and first practised at Sheffield, but it soon covered a wider area, and plated ware by fusion and rolled was made at Birmingham, London, Nottingham and elsewhere. But it still retains the name of Sheffield Plate, and nothing can remove this title from the public mind, although it is a misnomer. "Sheffield Plate" is Sheffield solid silver duly assayed at the Sheffield Assay Office, which has existed since 1773, and bears the crown as the town mark together with the maker's initials and the date letter, the same as sterling silver plate assayed at London, Birmingham, Chester, Edinburgh, Dublin, or any other of the assay offices. Sheffield Plated Ware is a copy or simulation of real plate. It was, as this volume shows, possessed of considerable artistic qualities, it was fashioned by craftsmen who were masters of a clever technique, and it is, if not a lost art, certainly an art not practised in the old methods nor with the same exactitude nowadays, and as such it is worthy of the serious attention of the collector. As to its artistry purists may cavil at its imitativeness. Although "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" the contemporary silversmiths of London and elsewhere were far from flattered. They began to be alarmed at the growth of the manufacture, and protective Acts of Parliament were passed to safeguard the interests of silversmiths against competition by silver platers. In regard to technique I have given sufficient details to enable collectors to identify their possessions and to take a further interest in details of craftsmanship. By permission of the Board of Education I am reproducing several designs from the copper-plate illustrations of the old Catalogues and Pattern Books issued to buyers of their wares on the Continent of Europe by the leading firms of Sheffield in the eighteenth century. In regard to information concerning the manufacture of plate by fusion at Dublin I am under an obligation to Dudley Westropp, Esq., of the National Museum, Dublin, for notes embodied herein relating to the importation of Sheffield plated ware into Ireland and its attempted manufacture there. I have also to acknowledge the kindness of G. Harry Wallis, Esq., F.S.A., of the Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery, for the inclusion of illustrations of several examples. The Corporation of Sheffield have allowed me to have special photographs taken of examples exhibited in the Public Museum, Sheffield, and I am indebted to the Curator, E. Howarth, Esq., for his courtesy in enabling this to be carried out successfully. I have had access by the kindness of collectors to several representative collections. I am especially indebted to B. B. Harrison, Esq., for enabling me to illustrate herein many fine examples from his choice collection. To Walter H. Willson, Esq., I have to express acknowledgment for allowing me to reproduce illustrations of specimens of old Sheffield plated ware that have passed through his hands for many years, and for much information afforded me in connection with the old technique. In regard to marks on old Sheffield and other plated ware, in view of strictures on marks laid down by Acts of Parliament, I have come to the conclusion that marks on old Sheffield plated ware are somewhat negligible, as they lack the authoritative exactitude of those placed by law on silver plate. There were marks when the Sheffield makers simulated silver marks till they alarmed the silversmiths and were stopped by statute. Then came a hiatus. Then again they adopted trade marks plentifully found, but these marks are not always found on examples of the best period. So in adjudging old Sheffield plated ware, marks have a subsidiary place, and they are accorded a subsidiary place in this volume. I submit this volume unhesitatingly to lovers of old Sheffield plated ware as a carefully considered exposition of what was produced for a hundred years, consisting of fine design, exquisite balance, and wonderful technique, till plating became a scientific process and electro-plating became of common usage. But this is modernity. ARTHUR HAYDEN. [7] [8] [9] [10] CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 17 CHAPTER II EARLY DAYS (THE INVENTION OF SILVER-PLATING BY FUSION AT SHEFFIELD) 43 CHAPTER III CANDELABRA AND CANDLESTICKS 79 CHAPTER IV SALT CELLARS AND MUSTARD POTS 133 CHAPTER V CAKE BASKETS, DECANTER STANDS (COASTERS), DISH OR POTATO RINGS, INKSTANDS AND TAPER HOLDERS 159 CHAPTER VI TEAPOTS, TEA AND COFFEE SETS, TEA KETTLES, COFFEE POTS, SUGAR BASINS 187 CHAPTER VII SOUP TUREENS, HOT WATER JUGS, THE SUPPER TABLE 217 CHAPTER VIII CENTREPIECES 243 CHAPTER IX CLOSE PLATING 259 APPENDIX, MARKS ON OLD SILVER (1753-1840) 271 APPENDIX, MARKS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE (1753-1840) 285 INDEX 297 [11] [12] ILLUSTRATIONS Old Sheffield Plated Centrepiece Frontispiece Chapter I.—Introduction PAGE Soup Tureen and Fruit Dish carved in Pear-wood 29 Wedgwood Dessert Basket and Dessert Centrepiece 33 Group of Silver Lustre Ware and Glass Candlesticks 37 Chapter II.—Early Days Knives, with Medallion of Shakespeare 51 Wine Label, Buttons 51 Group of Patch Boxes 55 Candlestick, 1775, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 65 Candlestick, 1795, Old Pattern Book (18th century) 69 Candlesticks, 1797, Old Pattern Book (18th century) 75 Chapter III.—Candelabra and Candlesticks Candlestick, 1785 83 Candelabrum, 1800 87 Candelabrum (7-lights), 1820 91 Candelabrum (5-lights), 1810 93 Candelabrum (2-lights), 1790 97 Candelabra, 1790 101 Candelabrum (Single twist), 1790 103 Candelabrum (Double twist) 107 Candelabrum, 1795; Candelabrum, 1790-1795 111 Candelabrum, Small, Candlestick, Lyre Design 113 Candelabrum (3-lights), 1805; Candelabrum (4-lights), 1810 117 Candelabrum (3-lights), 1820 121 Old Print Serena (after Romney) Chamber Candlesticks 123 Table Candlesticks, 1765, 1770, 1795 127 Table Candlesticks, 1780, 1790, 1795 129 Table Candlesticks, 1810, 1820, 1830 129 Chapter IV.—Salt Cellars and Mustard Pots Salt Cellars, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 137 Salt Cellars, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 141 Mustard Pots, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 145 Mustard Pots, 1775, 1785, 1790 149 Mustard Pots, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 151 Pepper Casters, Group of 155 Mustard Pots, Group of 155 Chapter V.—Cake Baskets, Decanter Stands, Dish Rings, Inkstands, Etc. Cake Baskets, Wire Work, 1800, 1810 163 Decanter Stands (Coasters), Group of, 1785-1790 167 Decanter Stands (Coasters), Group of, 1805, 1810, 1815 169 Decanter Stands (Coasters), Group of, 1805, 1820 173 [13] [14] Butter Dish 175 Dish or Potato Ring 175 Inkstands, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 179 Taper Holders, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 183 Chapter VI.—Teapots, Tea Kettles, Coffee Pots, Sugar Basins Teapot, 1792, from Old Pattern Book (18th century) 191 Teapot and Tea Caddies, Cake Basket 193 Tea and Coffee Sets, 1810, 1820 197 Tea and Coffee Sets, 1825, 1830 199 Tea Urn, 1810 203 Tea Kettles and Stands, 1805, 1820 207 Coffee Pot, French, Silver-plated; Sugar Baskets, Pierced Work 211 Sugar Baskets, 1825 213 Chapter VII.—Tureens, Hot Water Jugs, Etc. Soup Tureen, 1805 221 Soup Tureens, 1815, 1825 225 Soup Tureen, 1815 229 Hot Water Jugs (2) 229 Entrée Dishes, 1815, 1825 233 Hot Water Jug, Adam style, 1770 235 Toasted Cheese Dishes, 1800, 1810 239 Pipe Lighter, 1783 239 Chapter VIII.—Centrepieces Centrepieces, 1790, 1810 247 Centrepiece, with Female Figures 251 Chestnut Dish; Fruit Basket, 1810 255 Appendix Marks on Silver Plate 275, 279, 283 Marks on Old Sheffield Plate 287, 291 [15] [17] I INTRODUCTION IMITATION AS A FINE ART ECONOMIC SUBSTITUTION EUROPEAN IMITATIVENESS PARALLELS IN ENGLISH CRAFTSMANSHIP EARLY PLATING SILVER PLATERS AT SHEFFIELD CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Imitation as a fine art—Economic substitution—European imitativeness—Parallels in English craftsmanship—Early plating—Silver platers at Sheffield. Imitation is no new thing in art. Indeed it may be advanced as an axiom that no art worthy of the name has ever come into being without inheriting the traditions and technique of some preceding motifs. Bizarre movements have at one time and another seized artists and craftsmen, they have become anarchist in regard to all previous art postulates, and produced somewhat chaotic and formless results. The fantastic jazz in art circles known as L'Art Nouveau some years ago, temporarily upset the balance of the younger generation of designers, spent its force in unchecked licence, and ended so ignominiously that it is now entirely forgotten, nor has it left any permanent impression upon succeeding schools. Now and again imitation has been resorted to by well-known masters to flagellate the taste of their own day. Embittered by constant praise of old works they have made imitations of old masters' styles and foisted them on their critics until at such moment they divulged their authorship and pricked the bubble of the undue adoration of the ancients. Pierre Mignard fabricated a Magdalen and through the complicity of a dealer it was sold as a newly discovered Guido to the Chevalier de Clairville. Presently it was noised about that the painting was by Mignard. Le Brun, the great painter, pronounced it to be a Guido and in his best manner. The jest had gone far enough, the owner, Mignard, Le Brun, and the critics met to settle the affair. Le Brun and the critics adhered to their belief in its authenticity. Mignard protested otherwise, and said he had painted the work over the portrait of a cardinal, and as proof dipped a brush in oil and disclosed the cardinal's hat. Le Brun, bursting with anger, satirically exclaimed, "Always paint Guido but never Mignard." But the canvases of Mignard and Le Brun both hang together in the leading galleries of Europe. Nor is this a solitary instance of the pique of artists for lack of discernment in contemporary criticism. Goltzius, that masterly exponent of strongly graved lines on the copper, produced and published six prints in the style of Albert Dürer, Lucas van Leyden and others, and one, the Circumcision, was sold as one of Dürer's finest achievements. These six engravings of Goltzius are known among his work as the "masterpieces." They are certainly masterly imitations, and he executed them to show his critics that though his was a new style, yet he could if he chose slavishly follow the manner of the old masters. These are instances of imitation used ironically as a weapon to pour scorn on the mediocrity and want of knowledge of critics. In pictures there have been whole generations of imitators and copyists. The continent in the eighteenth century was flooded with sham Correggios, Claudes, Poussins, and Cuyps, and many English painters, afterwards well known, did not disdain to make copies for the dealers of old masters' pictures. David Allan, called the "Scottish Hogarth," was an adept in copying chalk drawings from the old masters; and many artists eked out a pitiable existence as copyists while waiting for the public to acclaim their original work. John Jackson copied the head of Reynolds for Chantrey which could have passed for the original by Sir Joshua. A Rubens he painted in the presence of the students of the Royal Academy was acclaimed as faithful to the original. He was unequalled in such facsimile imitations. Henry Liverseege, in the early days of the nineteenth century, copied Vandyck, Rubens, and Teniers with such skill that few could say which was the original and which the copy. Two pictures, one by Sir Edwin Landseer, and the other a copy, were to be sold on successive days at auction. The painter, strolling in to the auction room on the day before the copy was sold, mistook it for his own work. At the galleries of the Fine Art Society, in Bond Street in 1875, an exhibition was held of a series of facsimiles of Turner drawings in the National Gallery lent by Ruskin and executed for him by Mr. Ward. Of these replicas, Ruskin said in a note: "I have given my best attention during upwards of ten years to train a copyist to perfect fidelity in rendering the works of Turner, and have now succeeded in enabling him to produce facsimiles so close as to look like replicas— facsimiles which I must sign with my own name to prevent their being sold for real Turner vignettes." Economic Substitution.—But imitation has many phases. Modern photography in copying the great works of old masters has made it possible to study their works with exactitude in the dimensions of black and white, and if the work is an etching or an engraving the reproduction claims a closer relationship with the original. The art of engraving from painters' work is imitative to the extent that it depicts the same subject and takes its initial inspiration from the painted canvas. But it claims a much higher regard—the great school of interpretative engravers translated painting into terms of black and white. Economically, therefore, it will be seen that there is a real reason why imitative art, on whatever plane it finds itself, should hold its place. In a broad sense it has had a mission. It is true, as Goethe said, that "There are many echoes but few voices"; but the echoes have their value too until they reverberate into nothingness and new voices arise. As a substitute, therefore, for unattainable works of art any medium that will so successfully simulate the original as to convey the lines and the grace, the colour and the harmony, though in a lesser degree than the original, is to be welcomed for its own sake. There are many occasions when sacrifices have had to be made and when prototypes have been destroyed and substitutes have arisen which have artistically filled the hiatus, if only for the time being. For instance, the extravagance of Louis XIV in regard to sumptuous silver passed all bounds. At a fête at Versailles in 1668 on each side of the royal buffet was elevated on a portico ten feet high a grand silver guéridon bearing a massive silver girandole which lighted the [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] buffet, accompanied by numerous large silver vases. On the table and steps of the buffet, which reached the height of twenty-five feet, were arranged twenty-four massive bowls of fine workmanship—these were separated by as many large vases, cassolettes and girandoles of great beauty. There were on the table twenty-four large silver jardinières full of flowers, in front was a great silver cistern shaped like a shell, at the two extremities were four guéridons, six feet high, surmounted by silver girandoles. Two other tables for the ladies were similarly equipped with masterpieces of the silversmiths' art. In 1688 the Grande Monarque needed money to carry on his wars, and he issued an edict forbidding the manufacture of such massive silver, and sent all his plate to the Mint. So all this fine work, designed, made by Claude Ballin, Pierre Germain, Montars and other celebrated craftsmen after designs by Le Brun, was melted down; happily the pieces were first drawn by the artist goldsmith Delaunay and their forms are preserved. The king made it compulsory that the fine plate of the nobility should be sacrificed too, and in consequence most of the fine old silver was melted down. But here comes the imitative note. The age of sumptuous silversmiths' work was followed by an age of fine pottery. Beautifully decorated earthenware and porcelain became fashionable. Rouen made a special service for Louis XIV, and a great impetus was given to the art of the factories of Moustiers, Marseilles and Nevers, and thus the nobles of France had their banquets from the clay of the potter instead of from the vessels of the silversmith. As will be shown later the relationship between the art of the potter and that of the silversmith has always been somewhat closely allied. The designs of the one have, although not necessarily adapted to a differing technique, been boldly taken and assimilated in results that leave their note of incongruity to be criticized by collectors and connoisseurs to-day. European Imitativeness.—In order to arrive at a closer appreciation of the niceties of imitation, perhaps it would be better to commence by attempting to understand what is originality and where it can be found. But that would entail a great amount of study. In porcelain one would have to follow the attempts of the Dutch school of potters and bow down in admiration to Meissen, where the first true porcelain was made in Europe. All else is imitative, including Sèvres and Wedgwood and Worcester. Nor does imitation stand arrested at technique, it follows slavishly the oriental prototype in design. We find pagodas and Chinese landscapes, and little figures which meant so much in a language of symbolism, scattered promiscuously on Delft beakers and on Bow cups. Wedgwood, in his Portland Vase, copied a prototype of blue glass. In his classic subjects in relief on his vases and his cameos he builded on the reputation of Greek and Roman types translated through the brain of John Flaxman, and there was a school of potters who came second-hand after Wedgwood and imitatively carried on his classic style. The whole of the school of decorating furniture in lac is imitated from the East, and a poor imitation at best. What the glass-worker did at Venice was copied over the Alps in Germany. It suffered in translation and finally became something new. The bulbous appendages to German glass were the crescendo note of the Italian more reticent ornament. When the Murano glass-worker added the tiny griffin-like symbolized version of the small sea-horse found in the Adriatic to the handles of his tazzas, he added a touch of grace and beauty. But the German developed these into chimerical beasts. In an examination of European art one wonders where imitation ends and where originality begins. Originality unfortunately often begins just at that point when the original touch of genius is lost sight of and when banal excrescences are added, meaningless and offensive. But originality and fertility of design often begin when experimentalists set out to produce one thing and realized another, and commenced a new technique and became original in so doing. The search for the philosopher's stone was futile, the old alchymists in their laboratories, though they never found the means of transmuting baser metals into gold, made experiments which begat the results of modern science. Impulses are carried out in various countries in accordance with national limitations. The East African negro who patiently covers a gin bottle with bead-work, proudly displayed as native art by a missionary society in London, is obeying the instinct to embellish and add his own genius to that of the alien. He knows the value the white man puts on the spirit bottle, and he worships afar off at the same shrine. Parallels in English Craftsmanship.—In regard to Sheffield plated ware, if it be advanced that it was imitative of old silver and therefore negligible, we must claim as a parallel old English earthenware, where, although the technique differed from that of the potting of porcelain, it did simulate porcelain, and examples of the one are found in replica of the other. As to production the reason for imitativeness is often to effect economy. Nor should this be anathema in art. Undoubtedly Staffordshire and all its products struck hard at the English porcelain factories. But, in spite of its initial imitativeness and its wary regard for competitive lines, it did win a path of its own. There the parallel ceases because earthenware was made in England prior to porcelain. Imitativeness in various arts is common enough. The glass-worker and the potter copied the silversmith. The cabinet- maker was indebted to both and vice versa. We find acanthus ornament in wood and in metal, the strapwork of the Tudor carver on wood and on silver. The cupid in metal on the Stuart clock case is duplicated in the stretcher of the chair carved in walnut, and is found in stone at Hampton Court and St. Paul's in similar ornament. Wedgwood snatched the topographical designs from copper-plate engravings to decorate his service for Catherine II of Russia, depicting English country seats and views. Chippendale borrowed from the Chinese, and echoed Marot, the French designer, in his original designs which burst upon the town in his Director. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] Nor does it seem to trouble the collector of china overmuch that Worcester copied oriental models and even used a spurious Chinese mark, that Bow boldly proclaimed itself as "New Canton," and copied Worcester, and that Lowestoft copied both. The invention of transfer printing upon china is claimed by Worcester, by Liverpool and by Battersea, and all three employed designs which were not original. The whole school of designs transfer-printed upon china is imitative, many of them had already appeared as illustrations to books. Take another art, that of stipple engraving printed in colours. Here indeed is an imitative art. An engraving in black and white is a translation of a subject in colours. When printed in colours it sets out to be imitative of another art. But collectors have not been shy to give as much as four figures for some of these eighteenth century colour prints, greater prices even than the original paintings would bring under the hammer. The subject is illimitable and provocative of much argument. SOUP TUREEN AND LADLE CARVED IN PEAR-WOOD. (At the Wedgwood Museum at Etruria.) FRUIT DISH AND STAND CARVED IN PEAR-WOOD. (At the Wedgwood Museum at Etruria.) As interesting examples showing the versatility of designers, and that potters and silversmiths and woodworkers not only touched at many points but actually assimilated designs more proper to another technique in which they were working. The technique of the metal workers should have little to recommend its adoption by the cabinet-maker, yet we find tea caddies in Chippendale's Director which have details certainly more fit to be executed as mounts by the French ormulu workers than by the English wood-carvers, even though in soft mahogany. Josiah Wedgwood availed himself of many suggestions from other fields than that of pottery. A Soup Tureen and Ladle carved in pear-wood is at the Museum at Etruria to prove this excursion of his for models. This illustration (p. 29) clearly shows a design, although executed in wood, having certain ornaments which more properly belong to the technique of the silversmith. Another carved pear-wood model is that of a Fruit Dish and Stand. Here again there peeps forth not so much the technique of the wood-carver as the peculiar and more easily obtainable ornament of the metal worker. It might be a Sheffield plated Decanter Stand or Coaster. Josiah Wedgwood's collection of shells provided him with many a model for his cream ware dishes. He has used the small flattish escallop like shells—Pholus Æstatus, Pectem Japonicum, Area Antiquat and others, with great effect and crudely suggested the natural colours. In these the silversmiths helped themselves liberally to Wedgwood's models and we find innumerable single shell designs prevalent since their adoption in pottery by Wedgwood. It would similarly appear that they were equally indebted to him for another of his bold replicas of nature in the fine Dessert Centrepiece (illustrated, p. 33). As spoon-warmers and for other purposes the silversmith found this model from old Josiah's conchological collection remarkably practical and accordingly lost no time in imitating it. Another Wedgwood piece, a Dessert Basket (illustrated, p. 33) proves that Josiah had his own back, for the pierced ornament is distinctly taken from the silversmith and is more proper to his art than to that of the worker in clay.[1] "One can trace the motives of much of his work, both as to form and decoration, in the collections of various kinds which he was amassing, and in his constant intercourse with the metal-workers of Sheffield and Birmingham. To the former source he was indebted for the designs derived from objects of natural history, particularly shells and plants; to the latter source he owed many shapes and methods of decorative treatment which were used for silver plated ware." His introduction of diapers and other conventional designs in pierced and perforated work come straight from the Sheffield silver platers, and this style of ornamentation done in the same county as Sheffield, at the Leeds pottery, was carried to its extreme limit by Messrs. Hartley Green & Co., who became the most successful imitators of Wedgwood's cream ware, about the year 1783. Josiah Wedgwood, by Professor Church, 1903. WEDGWOOD CREAM WARE DESSERT BASKET. Showing fine pierced work. (Reproduced by the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons.) WEDGWOOD CREAM WARE DESSERT CENTREPIECE. Designed from Josiah Wedgwood's collection of shells. (In the Museum at Etruria.) [29] [31] [32] [1] [33] (Reproduced by the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons.) The illustration (p. 37) shows the competitive repetition of design contemporary with Sheffield plate. The potter found earthenware, covered with a fine platinum glaze, was a colourable imitation of silver plate. If the squire had his plate and persons of lesser degree more economically inclined had their Sheffield plate, the cottager could have a fine, glittering array of silver lustre vessels. Nor was the glass-worker behindhand in coming into the field, as the illustration shows. Early Plating.—In early days silver was used sparingly before the Spanish fleets from South America had poured silver into Europe. Ancient drinking vessels of wood such as the mazer, a drinking bowl much like a punch bowl, were decorated with silver bands. Cocoa-nut cups were similarly decorated. By the end of the sixteenth century, solid silver had replaced most of these forms for use in the spacious days of Elizabeth. The early records show that certain goldsmiths were guilty of mals outrages. In the fourteenth century gold was debased by mixing it with glass, silver by adding lead or fine sand. Latten and brass vessels were silvered and passed off as being of solid silver. One Edward Bor in 1376 was summoned before the mayor and aldermen of London to make answer "that he had silvered 240 buttons of latone and 34 circlets of latone for purses called gibesers (gipcières) and had maliciously purposed and imagined to sell the same for pure silver in deceit of the people"; both he and a confederate one Michael Hakeneye were sent to Newgate prison. Another case of John of Rochester in 1414 is recorded where he counterfeited mazer bands in copper and brass, plated over with silver. It is interesting to read that "no artificer nor another other man shall gild nor silver any such locks, rings, beads, candlesticks, harness for girdles, chalices, hilts nor pommels of swords, powder boxes, nor covers for cups made of copper or latten, upon pain to forfeit to the King one hundred shillings every time, and to make satisfaction to the party grieved for his damages. But that (chalices always excepted) the said artificers may work ornaments for the Church of copper and latten, and the same gild or silver, so that always in the foot or some other part of such ornament the copper and latten shall be plain, that a man may see whereof the thing is made for to eschew the deceit aforesaid." As to the hall marks on silver[2] the series of Acts of Parliament relating to the assaying, marking and regulating wrought plate and ascertaining the standard "for the good and safety of the public," covers a long period. British hall marks possess a reputation extending over three hundred years. Heavy penalties were exacted for fabrication of marks. In France in 1724 an edict was passed declaring sentence of death against those who counterfeited stamps or insert or solder stamps on other plate. See Chats on Old Silver, by Arthur Hayden, pp. 25-63. GROUP OF SILVER LUSTRE WARE. Coffee Pot. Basin. Teapot. The Staffordshire potter's imitation of silver. GLASS CANDLESTICKS. Late eighteenth century. It is thus evident that baser metals had from time immemorial been plated with silver, and, given an unprotected public, many such frauds could be perpetrated by skilful and unscrupulous craftsmen. In fact they were perpetrated. In 1767 a working silversmith was prosecuted by indictment upon Stat. XXVIII Edward I and Stat. VI George I, cap. 11 for soldering bits of standard silver to tea-tongs and shoe-buckles which were worse than standard and sending the same to the Goldsmiths' Company Assay Office at London in order fraudulently to obtain their marks to the same. In France from 1753 to 1759 a set of regulations to be observed by silversmiths in the profession of their art enacts that "They shall not make the rims turned over full of solder, in form of hammered edges to basins, dishes and plates; nor shall they under pretext of joining, solder on to them other bottoms." The methods employed prior to the invention of the plating by fusion and rolling in sheets at Sheffield was known as French plating. Throughout the eighteenth century clock cases were silvered by this method, and successive layers of silver could be applied to any thickness required. Silver Platers at Sheffield.—The platers set out frankly as a school of copyists to imitate silver plate. They laid a thin imposition of silver on copper and rolled it and dealt with the sheets as if they were solid silver. They suffered from many disadvantages which they eventually overcame; they competed directly, and more directly, than did the Staffordshire potters with the silversmiths. The potter snatched the silver models and so did they. But he had less reason than they because he left his proper technique as a worker in clay in so doing. It was no new thing to plate baser metals with silver or with gold. But the method by which it was accomplished and the rolled-out sheets were new. To rush into a general industry to expend great capital on it, to launch it on the market, to compete with the richest and closest corporation of goldsmiths in the world, was a new and audacious venture, and this Sheffield did, and the designs partook of the character of the finest produced by the experienced workers in silver plate. [35] [36] [2] [37] [39] [40]