English Silver Tea & Coffee Service, ca. 1904
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GUEST:
We were garage sale-ing in Kansas City, Kansas. We'd been out all day long, had been to the ATM once. We ran across this sale with this very elderly lady. The service was black, and it was sitting on a silver plate tray. I looked at it and then I thought, "No, I don't know anything about this." So we left. And I said, "I think we should go back." Between the two of us, we had $16, and she had $25 on this. And she said, "You can have it for $16."
APPRAISER:
When did you go to this yard sale?
GUEST:
It was about two years ago now.
APPRAISER:
Did you have any idea what it was when you bought it?
GUEST:
I thought it was silver, but it was so black. And the tray that it was on, I know it was silver-plate because I could see the copper.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And I was afraid that's what this was. But I thought, you know, $16, we'd just take a chance.
APPRAISER:
And out of curiosity, did you buy the tray?
GUEST:
Yes, I still have the tray.
APPRAISER:
And was that included in the $16?
GUEST:
Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER:
I mean, that shows that you are up on some silver knowledge that you could spot the copper on the tray.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And then with silver, when it tarnishes and gets really black, you do sort of have to take a flyer as to what it is. Maybe it's silver, maybe it's plate. If you look at it on the face of it, it all seems to match. But when you look at the marks, it's more of a mixed bag.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
So what we've got is a three-piece set, and then two individual pieces.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Which isn't terribly uncommon with English silver in particular, which is what all of these pieces are-- English sterling.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
All of the five pieces have proper English hallmarks. The three-piece set all have matching hallmarks for Sheffield, England. And the date letter dates them to 1904 to 1905. And they all have a matching maker's mark. It is for Jay, Richard Attenborough Company Limited. And then also made in Sheffield is this little guy. I call these hot water pots. There are some that might call it a hot milk pot, but my preference is as a hot water pot. And the marks on this little guy are also Sheffield, and he's 1903, so he's a tiny bit earlier. And he has different maker's marks. So even though it looks the same, it's different. And then the coffee pot, he is made in London-- again, different maker than the other pieces.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And he's 1903. So it's not uncommon for English tea sets to have these different dates and makers. Sometimes you didn't have enough money to buy the whole set at once. What we're seeing here is sort of a restatement of a classic late Georgian, early Regency design, which was very trendy in this Edwardian period. The handles look like wood, and that's the intention. But in this period, they're using composition. Silver from this period with this look is fairly easy to acquire, so it's not rare in terms of its age or its style.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
But it is a lot of silver weight. So I think from your $16 investment, at auction, you're probably looking at $1,000 to $1,500 worth of silver from $16.
GUEST:
Well, that's okay.
APPRAISER:
That is okay. I want to shop at the tag sales you're going to.
GUEST:
It just reaffirms that if you like something and the price is right, you just better buy it.
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