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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 Silverplate Forum
 Help! any info on Silver Tray found
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| Author | Topic: Help! any info on Silver Tray found |
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Barbiedoll Posts: 3 |
posted 07-27-2005 11:47 PM
  
,"Can anyone tell me about a silver tray I have with this info. encircled/stamped - Rockford & Co. 1875, it has a picture of scales weights the word sheets, then below the stamp is the number 304, Is Rockford & Co. the maker, and what do the scales indicate?" (Wed 11:05pm) IP: Logged |
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Dale Posts: 2132 |
posted 08-23-2005 02:22 AM
The Rockford Silver Company produced in Rockford IL up into the late 1940's. The company produced a generally high quality line. It also marketed exclusively through independant jewelry stores, under the name Jeweler's Crown Guild. Which name appears erratically on their products. The addition of the name Sheets would indicate later production. The three Northern Illinois silverplate makers: Aurora, Rockford and Yourex have received very little study. My impression is that Rockford produced large quantities of traditonal style silver. It was a fairly expensive brand when new. It also was sold throughout the upper midwest and the great plains. My other impression is that Rockford tended to be the silverplate of choice for small town jewelers. This is all sort of random, but there is very little information on the firm. IP: Logged |
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Barbiedoll Posts: 3 |
posted 09-10-2005 07:25 PM
Thank you so much for the information. I got the tray from a thrift shop in a small town in upstate New York. So, you may be right about the company being the choice of small independant dealers. Anyway, it's a lovely tray, and it does seem to be a high quality. What do the pictures of scales mean? The weight of silver? IP: Logged |
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Patrick Vyvyan Posts: 640 |
posted 09-13-2005 06:10 AM
Youe company started life as the Racine Silver Plate Company incorporated in May 1875. “The Racine Silver Plate Company, manufacturers of gold and silver plated ware, Britannia ware, cutlery, etc., was incorporated May 8, 1875, with an original capital of $20,000, which was afterward increased to $44,000, with authority to extend the same to $100,000. The first officers were: James H. Kelley, President; B. F. Weeks, Secretary and Treasurer; Directors, James H. Kelley, B. F. Weeks, Thomas Dickinson, E. G. Huggins, John Elkins. The present officers are: J. H. Kelley, President; B. F. Weeks, Treasurer; Geroge B. Kelley, Secretary. The Capital of the company is now $100,000. The establishment employs sixty men and does a business of about $100,000 per annum. Their goods are now classed with those of Rogers & Co., and other well known Eastern manufacturers, and are sold in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.” (The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Chicago: 1879) However the plant was destroyed by fire in 1882 and the company relocated to Rockford as the Rockford Silver Plate Co. In 1925 it was bought by Raymond Sheets, and thereafter the company apparently dropped flatware production to concentrate on holloware. At some point it was bought out by S. L. & G. H. Rogers and disappears by the mid 1950s. IP: Logged |
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Dale Posts: 2132 |
posted 09-13-2005 01:29 PM
My information is that the company continued selling flatware to the end of its existence. It may have, and this is totally unclear, either purchased finished flatware from Yourex or it may have taken over and operated Yourex or it may have acquired pieces of unfinished flatware and offered them. Rockford worked through its Jeweler's Crown Guild to the end. This network of retailers was a valuable asset, and probably what was the main reason for buying the firm. My mother's tea set came from Rockford in the late 40's. As the company went out of business, there were large sales of finished products at the factory. I knew one retail jeweler who bought up a huge quantity of these wares and continued retailing them into the 1960's. The history of the Rockford company appears somewhat entwined with that of Yourex. And very little research has ever been done on these firms. They remain somewhat of a mystery. IP: Logged |
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Dale Posts: 2132 |
posted 09-13-2005 01:54 PM
The source of my information on the flatware is that over the years I have seen sets of clearly labeled Rockford silver which were purchased in the 30's and 40's. Now the company may have been running down inventory, or they may have had Yourex make them, or perhaps some other maker. But these were made after the suppossed cut off date. It is also the case that Rockford was tied into a complicated agreement with its retailers. This was a common old feature of the tableware trade. Under this arrangement the company committed to keeping its products available for a long period of time: something like 25 years, which is what is refered to as a 'taste cycle'. With this agreement in place, Rockford could not have abandoned its flatware without jepordizing its selling system for hollow ware. Jewellers who could not order up flatware for customers would quickly drop the hollow ware line. Which would be a bad business practice, and potentially fatal. My understanding is that Rockford went out of business, or at least the silver business, because of the wars. The plant was capable of doing precision tool and die work. And the war work that flowed in was more lucerative than the silver trade. My understanding is that the factory and workers were shifted to another firm and continued producing precision metal parts, just not silver. IP: Logged |
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