Featured Is This a Flower Basket?

I seriously thought this was rod iron or had an intentional “dark patina” on it. I was shocked to find it was silver plate....I guess it does have a dark patina now. Not sure if this one can be brought back.
Anyhow, would this be a flower basket?
Thank You!

 

Is there really such a thing as "Jadruple" Plate???? 'Cuz, not according to Googley eyes!!!!! Even though it's VERY lovely!!!

 

It says quadruple aka 4 times plated

 

Brides basket! Thank You!

What I meant by “not sure if this one could be brought back” was if it could ever be properly polished and look decent again.

 

LOL! Look again. The faint Q is followed by a damaged U.
But it sure looks weird!

IF your basket is quadruple plate (from back when QP was a Thing), it is likely that the silver can never be brought out of its TARNISH. However, it would never do to assume! First wash the thing in good old soap and water. Then find an unobtrusive spot, and wield the silver polish.

A lot.

 

Gotcha.

 

Hi,
Silver makers stopped using the term Quadruple plate around 1912. Quadruple plate was not mean 4Xs plated but the the silver was 4 Xs thicker than just plated. It is a wonderful "brides basket".
greg

 

Great advice! Thank You!
I looked for a “sticky” on silver cleaning but imagine each case can call for a different approach. I also know with these types of things that different people can get good equally good results using different methods so I’d bet opinions would come into play as well.

 

I see what you're saying now about the "U".....and even though plated, my eyes (still waiting 'til the end of May for 1 cataract to be done) see the "Q" as a figure inside of a square......my bad........but thanks!!!!

 

Concur! Best "look" too

 

If selling, should be offered as a 'bride's basket', called that because they were popular wedding gifts, but this item was originally sold as a berry dish (wider, shallower designs were sold as cake baskets) - don't believe I've run across any items actually marketed as bride's baskets before the early 20th century, and then they were taller, narrower pieces intended to hold flowers. Some, but not all, silverplate manufacturers voluntarily discontinued the use of the 'Quadruple Plate' mark in the early 20th century, due to the huge numbers of items so marked that had very light plating, resulting in rapid wear, the Federal Trade Commission cited a number of companies well into the 20th century. Can't recall Pairpoint's involvement in anything concerning quadruple plate and don't have time to dig into my files, but this piece would date prior to that anyway, from the 1890s. Have seen others that just hadn't been polished in decades and had a heavy layer of tarnish, some will polish up again, but often the plating is removed along with the tarnish (if selling, I'd probably just leave it, for some reason, a lot of folks like that look) - the nice bowl looks original and would have almost certainly been Mt. Washington glass, though not one of their fancier pieces.

This is probably the most similar I found in the 1894 Pairpoint catalog (number 4713, yours is 4705), it has a fancier insert...



~Cheryl

 

Sounds like a good idea... For some reason the tarnish on this one doesn't bother me as much as some of them do. And if polishing might take off the plating, as has been indicated, be careful!

 

Certain pieces of QP which are NOT retrievable, nevertheless are a particulary charming color. Much as I love beautifully polished silver, an enormous bunch of blue iris in one of those gargntuan coffee pots from the Victorian age is striking. A tarnished sugar bowl is greatly enhanced with pale pink roses. Picture the OP's with those pinky-lavendery flowers with black centers -- they look like daisies. (What am I talking about, Owned??)

 

Asters, I suspect, or Michaelmas daisies, hm?

 

Owned: I beg your pardon! I LOVE asters! Blue ones! However, they aren't what I mean. Just spent 15 minutes googling, finally resorting to "deep pink, red, daisy-type flower with black in the middle." Asters again.

Backed out of that and tried something based on the black-eyed susan - only not yellow.

The word "Rudbeckia" rang a bell. !!!! That's the one, Crimson something-or-other. Gad! Will have to go back and look.