Featured Silver plate gizzmo

I think it's the first time I'm posting and not sure if it's the correct thread

I have this 13 + cms, british "thingy" dates from before the 60's

What is it ? the most logical answer I have received over the years is to open tins.

I would really like to have this confimed

especially as it's patented EPNS ( and not plated !)

for some reason the second photo is too large !

manythanks for any clues

 

ElectroPlatedNickelSilver.

 

Opening tins would make sense . You almost have to have a tool and some of those lids are very close to the rim.

 

Something like a paint tin lid but on a smaller scale. Cocoa powder used to come in tins like that... other powders as well, I'm guessing. (I'm thinking maybe inks or watercolor pigments? It's too fancy to be strictly utilitarian.)

 

I know its Nicke silver but I couldn't edit the title where I'd put silver plate

 

yep, most tins were tight fitting at the time, trying to find the same referenced somewhere !

 

As silverbell implies, it is silver-plated... it is Electo-Plated Nickel Silver. Nickel silver does not contain any actual silver, it is named for its silvery appearance. It is a copper alloy of nickel and often zinc. EPNS is a nickel "silver" item that has been silver-plated. (So, your title is accurate.)
Unusual item!
(I once got excited about a German Silver item I found, only to discover that German Silver is nickel silver and contains no silver!)

 

I don't see the reason for the extra metal tip to the blade to open tins.....I've opened enuf....with a screwdriver....

@Shangas

 

teaspoon handles worked well too , especially Savoy spoons; Hilton spoons being too thick

I'm just trying to find out if this is a "vintage antique tin opener."

or is it the only one on internet ?

It evidently wins the "rare" nomination ( is that english ? )

 

I have no idea why I'm being tagged in here, but I have no idea what that is. To my mind, it looks like something that was cobbled together from leftover bits and pieces. That looks like a knife-handle of some kind, from an old cutlery set.

 

rare....is for cooking meat...

unusual would be better......

it looks like it could come from a cutlery set...

 

sniped by ..... Shang !

& your astute observations .....are exactly why I tagged you !

 

There is some kind of an instrument meant to remove wax seals...there is also one to scratch out paper after one has written a wrong word, and then to smooth out the roughness where one has done so.

I'm reaching waaaay back here...

 

You're thinking of ink-erasers, which are a totally different shape, and much sharper.

 

the "blade" is rounded edge and wouldn't scratch anything.

it certainly hasn't been cobbled

and as I mentioned it is patented

 

Thank you, Shangas! I knew there was something amiss! I wikied "ink eraser," and recognized the shape. Also read the sad story of the very brief life of George Millet. Ripley's, Believe it or Not!

 

There's nothing that can be simply done that can't be made more complicated, or more arcane.

 

I think it realy is a tin opener. My childhood next door neighbor used to love British hard candy that came in a tin with a tight fitting lid like a paint can. This would have made it much easier to pry open.

 

Thanks you all for your help, guess it'll go down in history as a tin opener

Special thanks to Shangas even though he /she thinks my thingey is "cobbled" together but who identified an ink- eraser that I've always used as a scalpel
and came from a post war GPO ( post-office)

and to Komokwa who makes sure I edit my posts several times 'till my english is purrfect