Featured Sterling Silver Napkin Holders, one from 1898

Greetings fellow silver lovers,

I got to go to my fair share of stores today, and came across these napkin holders that turned out to be sterling silver (I acid tested them twice). Here's my question, can anyone help me understand the markings? There isn't much to go on, one appears to be just an "E" and the other one seems to be an L with a 9?? Either way, total price on these was $2.

 

They're pretty, Nate, but I don't think there is anything to understand about those markings (I'm not even sure the E is a mark.) Whatever they are, they only meant something to the maker.

I know you tested them, but how much do they weigh? Do you have any others that are marked sterling to compare to? I'm skeptical. I have a small collection of old napkin rings, some marked sterling and some not marked at all. Pick up one of the sterling ones and then an unmarked and the difference is obvious. The unmarked ones are much heavier and all plated. The larger one is way too thick to be sterling.

All that said - $2 each was a great price!

 

Looks like both of them are about the same thickness,the larger one has inside "lips" added

 

Bakersgma, I'm definitely always skeptical too, they feel the correct amount of "lightness" compared to other items. I found the larger one quite particular because of it's size, I haven't come across a napkin holder (plated or sterling) quite in that size or shape. Weight is 55 grams total weighing both.

 

Good observations holly blue, I would say the larger one is a bit thicker, but they both have a "lipped edge".

 

The short one was made on a rolling mill,the taller may have been also and has more hand engraving.

 

Yeah, the smaller one has a noticeable seam on it, I was doubtful of it being silver and pleasantly surprised when it tested as such. I bought the bag mainly because of the larger on. It was a pretty design to me regardless of whether it tested out.

 

The tall one is sweet and the date makes sense, it is aesthetic period (late Victorian) engraving. Very pretty!

 

I forgot to ask one question that I had last night after seeing the second picture (the one looking inside both rings from an angle.) The taller one has a reflection of light in an arc shape. Is that a real "extra layer" of metal, so to speak, or just a trick of the lighting?

 

Bakers, good question, that's just the reflection, the tone/color throughout the inside of both items is uniform. I took a very deep scrape on both items using an edge of the lip of the ring. I've found this to be a very good method to confirm it's silver, as by the second scrape on my testing stone with plated items all the silver layer is gone exposing a base metal which shows very little red on the acid. For both of these items, the second scrape looked great; deep red.