Featured Sterling Tea Caddy ???Match Holder?????,

Well Bear , if that's the way it was sometimes....then I figger that most times ...the other is true.
I'm going by what my folks and their ilk had done during the 50's & 60's, and all the silver was monogrammed , candlesticks, coasters, the works.

 

Ya Greg...I was thinking Scottish also....but I keep coming up with a raised Knights arm !!

 

1950s/60s silver would almost invariably carry hallmarks, we got a lot stricter.

 

Hi,
I first thought was Clan Douglas but theirs has a salamander in the fire. There is MacKenzie with a mountain on fire as well as Grant as a fiery mount. I used part of the Douglas when I was designing my church letterhead after the fire as we survived the fire is why I remember them. I do not have the crests of the Grant and MacKenzie just the names in my research notes. That is what was nagging me, I think.
greg

 

Yes it would, like my folks did.
So you're thinking this is English...and a lot older?

 

Its wayyyyyyyyy older than the 50's 60's for sure

 

I would have guessed Old Sheffield Plate - for what it's worth, to my eye, the letter on the top appears to be a 'C'. The 'flame of fire' crest belonged to several families (probably even more than I found in cursory searches), the engravings may have been done later, and not necessarily at the same time...

Backie/Baikie of Orkney
Dart/Darte of Devonshire and Cornwall
---also, related name, Walles
Firebrae/Firebrace, English
Graham, several Scottish branches

~Cheryl

 

Thanks Cheryl...A ??? LOL, all this time I thought it was for Duggan I have to see who had the last name begining with C in the family.
Sheffield plate? When I get my acid I will check again,maybe dig deeper into the base to see if I can find any copper I did make what I thought was a deep gouge last time. I can also file the inner edge to see if any copper appears.. Thank you for the info.

 

I must be doing something wrong? I Google flame crest/fire but get stupid games? I would love to learn how to look these things up.

 

Oooh, Shiloh - cringing a little at filing into that lovely little caddy, personally would just take a strong loupe in good light and check along the edges, or just forget about it and love it regardless of material...

~Cheryl

 

I have a bunch of old heraldry references, just rummaged through those for a bit, some are online in google books, can get a bit tedious...

~Cheryl

 

I did use a loupe but I will be very careful I am not selling it so I need not worry what material it is ,was just curious about some of my hoard. Could it be the "old age" setting in??? I guess I want to leave a bit of provenance on some stuff so when I "fly off", my girls will know whats what

 

Yes its tedious,have some items with hearldy and tried to look them up but was pulling out my hair. Finally gave most away.

 

Ya...I got that from Bear.....
I wan't being to clear...
I was suggesting that the work on the caddy would have been on more items related to it, rather than one off.

 

The scribed marks on the base are a retailer's letter code for the price, stock number plus so many shillings and pence, derived from a ten letter word with no duplicate letters, so each letter can be a number. In this case the two prices are probably cost and retail prices.

If the drawing accurately reflects the style of the letters and numbers, probably first half of the 20th C. and from an antique shop as the piece is at least 100 years older.

Proper hallmarking was compulsory when this was made, but if Lord Flambeau commissioned a piece and said 'I want it tomorrow', the maker may well have known the the unlikelihood of anyone ever noticing or caring about the lack of marks was worth the miniscule risk compared with telling M'Lord that he'd have to wait for weeks for the hallmarking.

This is modern use but you'll get the idea.
http://lifehacker.com/5948519/crack-the-hidden-pawn-shop-price-codes-to-haggle-a-better-price

 

The D S is about exact but the "K I" and "Each" in cursive is a bit different. Thanks for the explaination on the scribbles. Oh, and they look scribbled by different hands?

 

I did say scribed, written with a sharp point, rather than scribbled.

You can peel off a sticky label, but all you can do with a piece from another dealer in those days is write your own code, so it just means another seller at another time.

 

Yes scribbled with a scribe I have one I used to use on silver