Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bakersgma, post: 274982, member: 59&quot;]Bottom line is that I couldn&#039;t find any maker&#039;s mark with this combination, making it likely that your fork was made by &quot;some blokes in a shed&quot; as AF likes to say. In this case some very obscure blokes, at that.</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem with silverplate maker&#039;s marks is that they are not regulated or registered in any way (unless the maker has a large enough presence in the market to warrant &quot;trademark registration.&quot; And that&#039;s pretty much a 20th century thing.) Makers also changed them - a lot. (And it&#039;s the regulation of silver fineness under an assay system and the corresponding registration of maker&#039;s marks that is the only proper basis for using the term &quot;hallmark.&quot;)</p><p><br /></p><p>Some silverplate marks include commonly accepted acronyms (like EPNS or its short form EP) that hint at the country of origin (EPNS is mostly a UK thing, although it crops up occasionally on US goods.) In the US, older silverplate will often include A1 as an indicator that the plating was a &quot;standard thickness.&quot; As an advertising ploy, US makers started using terms like &quot;triple plate&quot; and &quot;quadruple plate&quot; to entice buyers into thinking that the products were of higher quality. In continental Europe (most commonly Germany and France) silverplate marks include a number like 90 or 45 to indicate the amount of silver used in plating a standard number of pieces. If you want to know more about numbers on silver plate, this article should prove helpful. <a href="http://www.925-1000.com/a_platenumbers.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.925-1000.com/a_platenumbers.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.925-1000.com/a_platenumbers.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>That concludes today&#039;s lecture on Silver Plate Marks. Tune in next week for &quot;Pseudo Marks - Confusing Customers on a Regular Basis.&quot; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=";)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in