Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: petet63 on August 11, 2014, 10:14:20 AM
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Hi all. Another of my Curio buys. A good ring to the glass. I am not good with metals but it looks to be silver coloured metal coated with a copper coloured metal. The underside of the foot has a Thistle motif. It looks like there should be a stone set into the centre. It is 10cm in height and 5.5cm in Diameter. The stem of the glass comes down to the bottom where the 'stone' should be. I dont know if it was made this way or a marriage of some sort.
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I think I hear wedding bells
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Looks like a wardrobe draw handle from the 30's on a mid Victorian cordial glass with out it's foot, i found this one recently i think it's an early Victorian cobalt blue wine glass on an Edwardian solid silver vase stand base.
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I had a feeling wedding bells were in the air ;D An early upcycler ;D Would be nice if the 'handle' was solid silver on this piece. It does have some weight to it but not really looked for marks on it. It does have that silver look about it but no idea how to tell apart from it not being magnetic. (I have another 'silver' item but cannot find out if it is silver) It must have been quite a wardrobe with handles like this.
I must try this on a modern glass with an Ikea wardrobe handle. ;D ;D
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try using a couple of drops of Cif or similar on a slightly damp tissue - or obviously metal polish if you have some - and if it comes off black then you have silver :)
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Proper "Silver plate" (ie. not EPNS), is, I think, from Birmingham only and was made by rolling sheets of silver metal copper metal together and the two becoming fused by heat. It can be more valuable than solid silver, (depending I imagine on the individual hallmarks on it) it is scarce stuff.
I do find myself wondering if that is what the bottom part is, given the presence of copper.
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Very much a home made repair. The copper bits are quite well made and brazed would really need a test kit if you cannot decide if silver. A tribute to early recycling where utility and the feel of the glass on lip were not lost.
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Sheffield Plate is the term used for taking a thicker sheet of copper and a paper thin sheet of silver, rolled them through a high pressure press and the result is the silver bonds to the copper. This is then hammered or pressed into molds or otherwise shaped. It is different from electroplating where one normally starts with a fully shaped piece of metal - typically nickel and zinc or such - then silver is electrically plated onto it. The metal part of this marriage seems to be Sheffield plate where the silver layer has been worn through around the narrow part. As others have said, it is taking two pieces of what would otherwise be tossed in the trash and making something from them.
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Doh, Sheffield, not B'ham. Thanks for correcting me, Kimo. :-*
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Just another possibility for the metal piece. Browsing a 1920s Ediswan catalogue I found very similar plates with holes that were sold for facing light switch boxes.
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It is silver from the tips supplied. Black when cleaned. I cleaned a hallmarked silver decanter neck then the glasses foot with same result. No idea what to do with this piece. The foot has a bit of work in it and looks great. Any suggestions as to a good use ?? brooch would be good but I tend not to wear them ;D As a glass I have no use (brandy) it is just a Curio now but would like to see it as an original whatever it was ;D
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Not likely solid silver. Silver plating does the same thing as solid silver in terms of tarnish blackening a cleaning cloth. Magnetic is a sure sign of not silver, but in most cases the base metals used in silver plated things are non-magnetic so that does not help in terms of saying it is silver. Hallmarks are helpful in saying which, but you mention there are no markings so that does not help other than to point to not silver and rather silver plated. No one has mentioned acid testing - they make acids that can tell if something is silver, but the huge problem with those is they only tell you what is on the surface and so silver plate will test the same as solid silver. You can gouge down deep into the metal and acid test down deep in the metal, but that is so destructive that it is only worth doing on metal that you intend to melt down for its bullion value and not on something that you want to keep.
The best clue is the part of the metal that looks coppery colored. That is base metal with the silver plating worn off. Without having it in my hand to examine this is only "very likely" rather than absolute, but from the photos it looks very likely that it is not silver.