Featured Quadruple Silver Plate Ice Pitcher- Who is the maker?

I found this beautiful Ice water pitcher and half of the mark is rubbed away. Have you seen one like this, or can you recognize the stamp? Also, should you clean old silver plate or just leave it alone. Thank you so much for your help!

 

Nice! I'd recommend leaving it alone; I've had plating come off quadruple plated items before when I tried polishing them.

 

Since the letters SU are visible on the left where the name should start, I believe this is marked Superior Silver Plate (which was a trademark of Middletown Plate Company for their "low-priced line." See the Superior mark furthest to the right at the bottom of this page.

https://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.com/SPMfgs/SPS2.html

Leave it alone. That very dark middle section was likely meant to be that way so the cut in floral decoration would stand out. I had a similarly finished piece that someone had tried to clean and it looked awful. I tried to get the rest off to make it look less odd, and it was a bear to do!

Addendum - this advice is for this piece only! Normally, if the item is to be sold I recommend cleaning to make sure that any flaws (like plate loss hiding under tarnish) become visible to both you for your description and the buyer for their decision.

 

Thank you for the info. I was thinking it looked like a S I. Could it possibly be British or Irish? The mark doesn't look like the Superior one. Or it could just be a different stamp design for that company?

 

No this could not be either British or Irish. But I do see your point about the areas that don't match the Superior example I linked. Unfortunately I could not find a maker name starting with SI that matches either. Whatever the name was going around the curve, it ends in TAL (metal?) Part of the problem is the vast number of US silver plate makers, many not documented because they didn't last long. The other part of the problem is that maker marks were not regulated or need to be "registered" back then. Whoever it was, it's not one of the big names. I'll keep looking.

 

Thanks! I have not had much luck finding anything.

 

Out of curiosity, is this a double-walled pitcher?

 

No, but it has that compartment inside for ice.

 

I was wrong. It is double walled also. It's very large and heavy. 15" tall

 

It's very nice, but picking it up when full of water and ice must require some serious muscles!

 

Yes, I haven't tried to fill it. Do you know if they are worth very much to sell? I know it usually depends on what company and when they were made.

 

You'd have to check eBay completed listings for things of the same type to see about how they sell.

 

Thanks for your help.