Featured Silver basket

Y'all were so much help with my flask and whisky decanter, I thought I'd ask about this item, too.

Again, inherited from my grandmother.

I can find no marks at all, on very close inspection, but the piece tarnishes like sterling, not plate. The underside of the base looks hammered.

My thoughts on the piece are, first, its handmade. Second, it's not silver plate. Third, it's either an unmarked, relatively new (50 - 75 years) item, or it's very old. I have the feeling it's old, but I'd like to know what y'all think.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas, everyone!

Frank

 

Third site/forum I've clicked on and at first no-one had as yet responded!!! Everyone MUST be doing last minute shopping!!!!! I'm just too pooped to pop, so I'm just chilling here before I crash! It "Looks" like silver to me and has an older/worn patina to it....nice! But without marks, others will tell you best how to check if it IS silver!!! I don't see measurements, but guessing maybe a bread basket, depending on size??

 

The screw & nuts are an interesting way to secure the base.....
Yup....looks handmade.......maybe bench made.
A lovely design....... the stars look hand cut too.
I doubt it's plated.....
Look again for any marks.........they can be small...& out of sight.

 

Makers in some countries take almost fiendish delight in hiding their marks. The Brits often put them front and center, but the French and Portuguese ...good luck with that.

 

I agree, it looks like silver.

I've never seen that before. Maybe non-Western?

And Dutch.... The Dutch sword mark especially, tiny, and the minuscule details changed in 1906. Important for dating, but you need a microscope to tell the two apart.
On the upside, this doesn't look like a Dutch or French piece to me. Portugal is a slight possibility, but so are many others.
Best to check any dark specks with a loupe, those could be hiding tiny marks. Northwest Africa also uses tiny marks (former French rule).

 

Might be silver, but maybe Old Sheffield Plate (fused plate) - can't really see well enough to tell, but it looks like there might be wire soldered to the rims. OSP was worked like solid silver and was most often unmarked. See any bleed-through to copper anywhere?

Personally, would guess late 18th - early 19th century, definitely hand-wrought and the hand-cut threaded posts and square nuts are something I've run across a number of times, on silver as well as OSP. Those stars seem an unusual element...

Size isn't mentioned and I'm having a hard time gauging, but if around 10-12 + inches wide, probably a cake basket, if fairly small, might be a sugar basket missing its glass liner.

~Cheryl

 

There is no wear showing copper or other base metal, and the tarnish is more like sterling than plate. The upper rim is thin, and very soft. I really don't think it's plated.

 

even the screws and nuts are starting to look like silver...

 

Old Sheffield Plate is not plated metal it is a "sandwich" of copper sheet between 2 silver sheets.The round wire in the handle has a very strange gouge on it,the bottom photo is too out of focus and it looks like over heated metal.

 

Regarding at his design, it can be from 1820-40 in Europe, seems to be silver, after that without having the piece in hands it's difficult to be certain, when the weight is about 3-400 grams is a good sign of age, heavier says that it's made later.
Mounting bolts can be german but of poor execution, a lot of silver has no marks and you can only have an opinion with a close look of the parts.

 

I reckon it's silver plate of some kind. Either Sheffield Plate or similar.

One way to find out is just to clean it. If there are hallmarks, then they're often buried under decades of tarnish.