solid silver or not? spoon

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stevenn21
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:15 pm

solid silver or not? spoon

Post by stevenn21 »

can someone tell me if this is solid silver please because it has a bit of tarnish on it that wont clean up and it was sold to me as solid silver,
i would be grateful for any incite
i was told Breadner Manufactoring Company, usually marked 'sterling' after the BMC rather than silver.

At 16 grams and made by or before 1937, (according to the inscription), I would have expected a full set of hallmarks, (lion, date letter etc etc).
but the only markings are BMC silver and an inscription on handle

before i used the silver polish(Goddards silver dip) the tarnished area was black after i stirred the spoon in the dip for about 30 secs the black tarnish has gone but not totally you can see where the tarnish was it still has a mark.

there are no other markings on the spoon apart from ''Essex Laying Trials 1937 Winter Eggs L S , Mrs D A Fowler'' on the handle

heres some images
thanks in advance
Image
Image
Image
dognose
Site Admin
Posts: 59003
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: England

Re: solid silver or not? spoon

Post by dognose »

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Many years ago I had a couple of these spoons, and as I recall, they were of New Zealand origin.

Have a wade through this topic: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... 38&t=27039

Trev.
dognose
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Posts: 59003
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: England

Re: solid silver or not? spoon

Post by dognose »

Yep! Just found this snippet in a 1932 NZ newspaper:

Image

Look to New Zealand initially.

Trev.
stevenn21
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:15 pm

Re: solid silver or not? spoon

Post by stevenn21 »

so is it silver i had no look in the topic posted
dognose
Site Admin
Posts: 59003
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:53 pm
Location: England

Re: solid silver or not? spoon

Post by dognose »

I see no reason to doubt that it is not silver.

I would warn against the use of dips, while this may appear to be the simple option when cleaning silver, such a method removes the patina from the surface, leaving it looking like it was made yesterday. Once this ageing process has been removed it can never be regained, except by time alone. Always use a good quality gentle silver polish.

Trev.
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