Reed & Barton

I collect R&B sterling holloware, specifically Francis First, and recently went to catalogue my collection.

Is there anyone here who is knowledgeable about R&B back stamps?

Usually there is Reed & Barton, then Sterling, then the pattern name, then a number. I always thought that the number was a style number of sorts under the pattern as all my little things that are alike all have the same number on them. Until today.

I have two 11 inch Francis First bowls. One has the number X569 the other X552.

Can anyone in this august body unravel this oddity for me?

 

@Bakersgma

 

What does this mean?

 

I'm sorry Chandler......it means I've tagged Bakersgma who is the silver wizard here.

 

Reed & Barton was pretty consistent in their production codes - if the shape and size are the same, then you'd want to look at the weight - one is likely to be considerably heavier than the other...

~Cheryl

 

As a relative newbie here, thank you twice!

 

I just bought the one with the odd # and I will most certainly be on the lookout for a bowl of a different weight. Thank you!

As a similar issue, I know that R&B had marked its flatware with Hs (Heavy stock) and Ms (Massive stock) I have seen plenty of sets with Hs but I have yet to see anything marked M.

 

Poking around online, find the X552 appears to weigh more twice as much as the X569...

~Cheryl

 

If you have both, why don't you just weigh them?

~Cheryl

 

I'm sorry I was not more clear: I have yet to receive the X552 Bowl. I was updating my inventory list when I discovered the oddity. I most certainly will weigh them and thank you for the search above.

 

Cheryl, using your research as a springboard, I am not finding the 11 inch X552 to be twice the weight of the 11 inch X569. The X552 would have to weigh 1300g to be twice the weight of a standard 650g X569. The X569 designation is used on the 3", 8" and 11" bowls as well as the pipkin, porringer and 11" sandwich tray. The X552 still remains an oddball. But thank you very much for your effort.

The search continues.

 

Sorry, a faulty quick search, just checked weights and apparently only ran across 8", not realizing the X569 came in different sizes and forms - perhaps R&B just changed the number to avoid confusion, are there any date codes on the pieces? Sure miss customer service at the old family-owned Reed & Barton, they would respond to queries and could answer most anything...

~Cheryl

 

Cheryl, the X552 has no year stamp. I went back and checked my other pieces and I have one other anomalous piece. It is an 8" bowl, which should be an ordinary X569, marked simply 195. Mysterious.

As for R&B, I believe I teared up when they were sold.

 

Yeah, last of the big American silver manufacturers to stay independent, the true end of an era when, after almost two centuries, they were acquired by Lenox (Clarion Capital) after going into Chapter 11. They kept excellent records, have been told that they no longer do archive searches - sure have to wonder what happened to all that information (which they gave freely, unlike Tiffany and their huge fees to search their archives)...

~Cheryl