CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE COMPANION VOLUME BY THE SAME AUTHOR CHATS ON OLD SILVER CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE MARKS STAMPED UPON SILVER II. ECCLESIASTICAL PLATE III. THE MAZER, THE STANDING CUP, THE FLAGON, THE TANKARD, THE BEAKER, THE WINE CUP IV. THE SALT CELLAR V. THE SPOON VI. THE POSSET POT, THE PORRINGER VII. THE CANDLESTICK VIII. THE TEAPOT, THE COFFEE POT, THE TEA CADDY IX. THE CASTER, THE SUGAR BOWL, THE CREAM PAIL, THE CAKE BASKET X. THE CREAM JUG XI. SCOTTISH SILVER XII. IRISH SILVER APPENDIX.--TABLES OF DATE LETTERS, LONDON (1598-1905)--TABLE OF DIFFERENCES IN SHIELDS, LONDON (ELIZABETH TO GEORGE V)--ILLUSTRATIONS OF MARKS, LONDON, PROVINCIAL, SCOTTISH AND IRISH [Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CENTREPIECE. On circular base, with nine plated wire baskets for glass dishes on spiral branches. Date 1775-1780. (_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._) _Frontispiece._] CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE BY ARTHUR HAYDEN AUTHOR OF "CHATS ON OLD SILVER," "CHATS ON OLD CLOCKS" ETC. WITH FRONTISPIECE AND 58 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING 5 PAGES OF MAKERS' MARKS T. FISHER UNWIN LTD LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE _First published_ 1920 _Second Impression_ 1924 (_All rights reserved_) TO MY FRIEND WALTER IDRIS, IN APPRECIATION OF KINDRED RECOGNITION PREFACE Many readers have importuned me to write a companion volume to my _Chats on Old Silver_, to complete the chain of evolution of the metal-smith's art in regard to silver plate and silver plated ware. Accordingly this volume appears as a complementary and companion volume to that on "Old Silver," and although the former describes the history and character of the silversmiths' work from Elizabeth to Victoria, the present volume covers a much shorter period, approximately a hundred years, when the plater's skill, in what is now generally known as old Sheffield Plate, of superimposing a thin sheet of silver on a copper base, won a triumph in the great art of simulation until it was superseded by the modern electro-plating process.