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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 Silverplate Forum
 Tea and Coffee service
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| Author | Topic: Tea and Coffee service |
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lamps098 unregistered |
posted 07-21-2001 10:05 AM
 
I have a silverplated tea and coffee service that belonged to my great great grandfather. I have been told it was a wedding present given to him in 1870 . I have not been able to find any info. about this set on the web . All pieces are marked A.B.& J.S. Holmes Jr. Newark Quadruple Plate. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks Pete IP: Logged |
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Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 |
posted 07-23-2001 04:38 PM
Well, you hit on a weird piece of New Jersey arcana. Adrian B. Holmes was a jeweler and watchmaker in Newark from the 1880s. His brother (or cousin?) James S. Holmes, Jr. was also, working for Holmes & Hall in 1880 and Issac Alling in 1885. For a very brief period, according to Newark City Directories, they had a partnership between 1886 and 1889 called A. B. and J. S. Holmes, Jr. at 627 Broad Street. They are listed as jewelers, but appear to have made some electroplate as well (there was a lot of this made in Newark). Now, have you studied the mark (quadruple plate) carefully--is there any other name? This is an awfully short period, and I wonder if your teaset might not just be something they retailed, and you're missing some other mark. By 1890 the two Holmes men had split, and both were listed as jewelers independently in Newark. IP: Logged |
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lamps098 unregistered |
posted 07-23-2001 06:34 PM
After reading your post I inspected all the pieces in the set. You hit the nail right on the head. They had very neatly soldered their marks over existing marks. Their marks appear like a small raised coin. I wish I could post a picture so you could see what I mean. On the coffee pot their mark had fallen off and a faint mark from another manufacturer was underneath. This maker's Id is Southington.C.CO Quadruple Plate. The silver plater has their mark on it but you can see where they tried to cover someone elses mark. That maker's name starts with BARTF and the rest of the name is covered by the Holmes mark. Any more info you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again Pete IP: Logged |
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Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 |
posted 07-24-2001 08:55 AM
Bingo. The Southington Cutlery Co. was a short-lived firm, location unknown (but, how about Southington, Connecticut?)Duh. It was soon swallowed up in the 1890s by the Barbour Silver Co. of Hartford, CT, which specialized in electroplate. I am sure that's the other mark you can't see, and it would be easy for it to look like BARTF if the mark was partly obscured. There you have it--and it's interesting, since Newark produced plenty of silver plate, and you'd think local retailers would patronize local makers--but it was all about style, and not about the origin. So your set is a fascinating document of two makers merging as one, and a local retailer using his own name (those soldered on coin-like marks were very common on silver plate). Your set is probably from the 1890s, based on all of the above. In 1898 Barbour itself was swallowed up by International Silver, the electroplate equivalent of Gorham Mfg.(i.e. the merger monster). IP: Logged |
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