Silver scrap and let's play a game!

Hi again everyone,

Tried my hand at some stores today, and came up with a tiny pile of scrap below. PS: If you'd like to play a game, scroll past the first three images:



It's once again game time! This game is pretty straight forward, but I want to give some of the less experienced silver hunters a chance to respond also. So here's the rules:

Take a look at the photos below. See if you can identify a clue or clues that might indicate something in the photos could be silver. If you find a clue, for now just respond with something like "i found it" or "i see it" and once a few folks have a chance to respond I'll tell you what happened:

 

Found one positive clue and one negative clue

 

I never know how to tell silverplate from silver, so I'm just going to watch.

 

Clueless as usual.

 

That's totally okay too!

 

Zoom in on the images available, use your "silver sense"

 

nice group you found today Mr Nate

I found one clue - I'm really hoping those bowls are sterling for you, they are gorgeous
I think I found another clue, will find out when the reveal happens

 

I already ordered 'something'....The original listing had a bunch of items in the main photo, but the seller took down the original posting before I could save the photos. I wanted to have a game where people first identified what looked interesting based on the photos and then provided these photos afterwards. The items are supposed to arrive on Saturday when I'll get confirmation if my guess/gamble was correct.

 

PS: when i messaged the buyer about those three bowls, he specifically stated "they don't have any markings on them"

 

fingers crossed for you

 

Since the ones at the top are marked as plate.... Any time a mark says "Silver company" it's generally a producer of silverplate. No marks at all along with the tarnish pattern on the fancy pattern bowls is enough to make me wonder.

 

That's what I saw too, the label made me think plate. Definitely going to watch this thread.

 

I zoomed and looked and zoomed and looked. I feel like I did on the boat in the Okefenokee Swamp where everyone could see the owl in the tree but me. They kept pointing and all I could see was the Spanish moss. I'll try to channel you and look again tomorrow.

 

Thank you for the fun conversation. And I'll start by saying I don't actually know for certain if I got something made of real silver. Very often I'm making purchases based on limited information: get enough information to make a decision...ask for too much information and I probably don't get to make a purchase.

So hopefully you saw some items that aren't very interesting and some that are definitely interesting. And I'll say that the first thing I had to do was identify these three bowls out of an original photo that had 3 teapots, a tray, a bunch of silverware and other bowls. The art of finding things online is looking for the "oddball" among the bunch. Most of the listings I look at aren't full of real silver, they are "sprinkled" with real silver surrounded by junk. So the first thing that caught my eye and got me asking for more photos was the quality of work on the three bowls. I'm quite certain it's hand worked (which of course could be plated also) and it appears for the large bowl someone took a great amount of care to make it.

The second clue I noticed: the edge of the bowl looked really familiar to me in style in technique. I had to go digging to find it, but in October of last year I found a large 800 silver bowl and I remembered distinctly that it had the same edge. Here's a photo of the bowl I found last year:



And with the bowl I found last year I remembered the mark was stamped on the front middle. I'm guessing this is a common practice in certain parts of the world. So with that information I asked the seller if they could provide me a few extra photos of some items (the photos you saw above). I tried to attach a high resolution photo as a clue, but I couldn't due to the image size restriction on the forum. Here's a close up of what I saw that got me excited:



Now what the heck am I looking at????? Well, maybe I'm looking at nothing, and I'll be the first to admit it and eat my humble pie. I gamble on silver and lose from time to time, but I think I've got these correct. What you might notice in all three of these photos is a little stamp/mark near the edge of the circle for each bowl. I'm just guessing at this stage, because I can't make out the mark, but I think they are 830 purity silver. I'm just guessing on what they actually say, because even zoomed in it's fairly blurry. So here's all the clues that lead me to make a purchase without certainty of what I'm getting:

1. Tone of the silver, especially the photo of the back of the large bowl. The way that cracks and crevices are tarnishing at a different rate than flat surfaces on the bowl is always a good indicator to me.

2. Level of care/level of skill to make the large bowl

3. A small clue, but not insignificant: the fact that the maker created a finished satin base instead of leaving it polished like the rest of the piece. A subtle but relevant clue about care and quality.

4. The fact that all three bowls have these little marks in the same location.

I'm hopeful I'm right, but I'll be the first to admit if I got this one wrong. It should be arriving after the weekend and then I'll know for sure. For those interested, round 2 of the guessing game is coming up below!

 

Here's round 2. Full disclosure on this guessing game, I don't actually know much yet about this listing, I'm still interacting with the seller, but I have a hunch about something in the photos. So, round 2: Based on the photos below, try to pick 2 items that you would inquire further with the buyer. Feel free to share your observations and opinions on items that could be interesting, and items that we should skip (sharing your reasoning on why we should skip an item is really helpful too!):

 

Pilgrim made plate, so they're out. Any time you see those big thick carry handles it's generally plated. I found one once with a real handle, but the base was glass, and the handle snapped. (it was cheap silver) The top candy dish is plated for certain, and the three-shell one too. I've seen that mark before, accompanied by the dreaded "90". That leaves the vegetable bowl and the single shell dish. The latter has always been plate when I've found one, but the earliest iterations may have been legit. I'd check the two of them if they popped up in an estate sale. My last big chunks of scrap looked about as promising.

 

The tray? I'd need to see the back. If it has those big thick feet, fuggedaboutit. If not I'd want a closer look.

 

I see the mark now. Duh!

 

Well most of it looks plate to me but most of the photos aren't clear enough to tell much.

I have a very similar shell marked sterling. It's about 5" across and has little ball feet.

 

Great guesses for those of you who tried round two. @evelyb30 your guesses were truly wonderful. I focused on the oval basket and the shell. I haven't gotten any photos back on the shell, but here's what the seller sent me for the oval basket. Here's what I'm a bit confused about:

The maker is clearly Frank M. Whiting, and there might be a sterling mark somewhere else on the basket, but what would be the odds that this would be plated based on what you see? I'm aware of Whiting making a bit of silverplate, but my understanding is the vast majority of whiting stuff is sterling. I tried to look up the basket and no luck yet.