Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Marshall Ketchum of Genoa, New York comments on sterling silver

Alan

Lisa Ackerman’s mention of a Hawkes vase with a silver base reminded me on one I have. The flat base on this piece is also marked Hawkes Sterling but there was a problem. When I got the vase the glass was loose in the metal and I had to take it apart so that I could reset it with plaster of paris. I found when cleaning the metal that it was silver plated copper not sterling. I thought of only two possibilities. The first was that the bottom of the base was sterling and so marked but the rest of the base was plated. The other was that Hawkes had made a mistake and mismarked the piece. A final possibility that Hawkes purposely mismarked their metal I didn’t think credible. I have been wondering if anyone else has ever looked at Hawkes metal bases that are marked sterling to conclude what they really are.

Marshall

Then Charles Sweigart of Reinholds, New York provides more detailed information from our discussion on the letter “H”.

The “H” has no relevance to Gorham, as suggested in this case, because the rest of the Gorham marking is not present as well as the use of mixed materials. The “H” on Gorham ware would only be relevant on silver only flatware, never on non-silver handled items.

Without an image of the mark, further suppositions are not possible.

www.cardersteubenclub.org

Any opinions expressed by participants to the Gazette are the opinions of the authors and are not endorsed by or the opinions of the Carder Steuben Club.