Featured Question about Quad Plate Napkin Ring

I hardly ever see these so I was very surprised at the auction when nobody bid against me and I got this napkin ring for $5. So I thought maybe something was wrong with it.

It's marked Derby Silver Co. Quadruple Plate and the theme of it is really neat with a turtle holding up something. It's monogrammed but most of them are.

I'm pretty sure the item has been re-plated. Could this new plating be chrome? If so, would that hurt the value? Personally, I think it's brilliant if it's chrome. These things are so hard to polish. Here are the pics. What do you think?

 

Sorry, I guess it's hard to tell chrome from silver from just a photo. But you guys are all so smart, I thought maybe there was a way to tell the difference.

 

Somebody has "re-silvered" it (at best.) And I don't like the discoloration in the corners of the underside. I don't know whether using chrome would even work, but at $5 it's a cheap lesson. Do you have a stone and testing liquid?

 

No stone and testing liquid, since I don't know what that would be.

Do you know what the turtle is supposed to be holding on his shell?

 

Sort of looks like a modified suit of armor, although I don't think armor has a belt, does it?

 

But it definitely looks like a "buckle around the waist" in the first image...........!

 

looks like a boustier....

 

It looks like it belonged to Terry Pratchett, or should have!

 

Silver testing liquid (acid), with a stone on which you scratch the item to leave a stripe which you can test for silver content.
Here is a thread on testing:
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/recommendations-for-testing-kits-please.18018/#post-246340

 

That's what I thought too!!

Thanks for the link, INH. I found the one on ebay and have decided that I might be over-thinking this, as usual. I've never found one of these in such pristine condition before. But the one on ebay looks just like it with a little tarnish and it looks re-plated also. If it wasn't $90, I would buy it.

I have one of the cherub type that I've been keeping around for awhile. I think these are really neat, but have never used one, either for its intended purpose or as something more creative. My cherub is black and seems not to have much plating left. That's why I was wondering about this one.

I will check out the testing kit. Maybe a friend at the auctions will have it? But I'm not as worried about it as I was.

 

Just wanted to add that this was the same auction that I bought the EAPG Cake Stands that I posted about earlier. It was so Hot and Humid that day. Maybe everyone else was as worn down as I was, and just couldn't raise their hands. I was evaluating bidding based on how difficult or easy it would be to take to the car. No one had any energy.

No more summer outdoor auctions without GatorAde (although I hate that stuff, maybe a different product).