Featured Antique Hartford Silver

All,

I am helping my neighbor with some antique items she has. She is elderly and her husband had a stroke and she asked me to help find out what some items are and where we can ask for value because she needs to sell stuff to help pay for expenses .
The first item is marked "Hartford Silver Plate Co" "Quadplate" "754".
I have attached 2 photos. Could I get any information like year it was manufactured and who to ask for value.

 

The Hartford Silver Plate Co, was in business between 1882 and 1893 (at which time it was absorbed by Barbour.) This form is called a castor frame (the glass jar being a "castor" for probably pickles at this size and shape.) It should have matching tongs that hang from the side.

As with other silverplated items it has no "melt value" for the silver, but having the glass intact will give this one a bit better chances of selling to a collector of such things than others. You should search eBay and Etsy for similar items that have sold to get an idea of value. It's going to be expensive to ship safely, though.

 

@Bakersgma Thank you very much for this information. I will pass it along.

 

Good luck, Brian!

 

@Bakersgma Thank you. I could not have found out this information without you and the group. I know nothing of this type of stuff but I have learned so much from everyone.

 

Hi and WELCOME to ANTIQUERS!! What a nice friend you are!!! I did a quick search on "PicClick" and came up with a few items to see, but if you add 'Quad plate' to the beginning of the search, you will get quite a few more....good luck!!

https://picclick.com/?q=castor+framed+pickle+jar

 

@Aquitaine Thank you very much for this information. It helps a lot.

 

Pickle Castor
Appears to be satin glass.
The cranberry color is a plus.
As Bakers said there should be matching tongs. They look like sugar tongs and have a fork end.

Used to be these brought $200-300. The market for these has dropped considerably. I would have this marked about $125. in my Northern CA store. And hope to get $100., but it will sit for a long time.

Where you are and how you sell will determine what you get.
If you haven't sold on Ebay, I would not start. Particularly with this.

 

Just looked at the link Aquitaine posted.
Those prices are what people are asking. Not sure how you tell what sold, if anything. Notice the higher prices are for the clear cranberry.

 

@clutteredcloset49 Thank you very much for the information. We live in the bay area california.

 

while I do not wish to sound callous .. the time trouble and effort it will take to sell this nice item...will not help pay any expenses incurred by a stroke patient.
Even if she has 10 of these.......that won;t cut it !
She had better find some higher value art work...silver or gold items if she is ever going to raise enuf cash to make a dent in the bills she's about to be buried under !
IMO..

 

@komokwa Thanks for your input. My neighbor (debbie) is consolidating everything. I will not touch their art and coins. I referred her to others. Her children do not want these items and she does not want to see them do nothing for her when she can use all the monies she can get her hands on. Her husband (Morris) is such a nice guy. Our small community is collaborating to help them any way we can.

 

it takes a village !!!
Show us the art and coins....we will tell you as much as we can so Debbie has a good starting point, and doesn't get ripped off by someone looking to take advantage of her situation.
Yes...all monies are needed.....big and small....but some items require more work to get value out of than others.
We can help in many different areas......use us !!!!

 

Thank you very much

 

Unfortunately, what she said. This is the kind of thing I'd send to a local auction rather than try to ship it. I will however say that I've either been in their old factory building or within a few feet of it. If this piece were in Hartford it would sell for more, maybe a lot more depending on the audience. Unfortunately it's on the wrong coast. If you use an auction house with an on line presence it might help.

 

@evelyb30 Wow, thanks for that piece of information. I will let her know.

 

This turned up when I was doing a bit of poking around into Mary Gregory peices:

https://www.tias.com/cranberry-mary-gregory-pickle-castor-126009.html

 

@Bronwen Thank you very much for the link.

 

If you are in the Bay Area, you have these auction houses.
I know that Bonhams has a free appraisal day, I'm sure the others do too. They are looking for things to add to their auctions that would be of high value.

You might google each, check out when their appraisal days are. Check out what percentages they take.

Bonhams and Butterfield
Clars
Michaan's

If you want to make the 2 1/2 hour trip to Sacramento, Witherell's is an online auction. They too have appraisals. Believe you have to make an appointment.

 

@clutteredcloset49
Thank you very much for this information. I will pass it on to Debbie.