Antique Pair of English Old Sheffield Entree Dishes 18th C

This is an exquisitely high-quality and rare antique pair of English Old Sheffield Plate, silver plated on copper, domed entree dishes, each with lid and stand, circa 1780 in date.

These stunning shaped oblong entree dishes feature impressive chased loop handles with splendid floral and foliate decoration. They are engraved on each side with a coat-of-arms on one side and three falcons and the motto 'Strike' on the other.

They are of the highest quality and are ready to grace your dining table.

A truly exquisite pair that would make a fine addition to any antique collection.

Condition:

In excellent condition. As antique items, the pieces show signs of use commensurate with age, these minor condition issues are mentioned for accuracy and, as seen in the accompanying photographs, the dishes display beautifully.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 17 cm x Width 34 cm x Depth 26 cm

Dimensions in inches:

Height 7 inches x Width 1 foot, 1 inch x Depth 10 inches

Old Sheffield Plate - or ‘fused plate’ as it is sometimes known, was the first commercially viable method of plating metal.

The material was accidentally invented by Thomas Boulsover, of Sheffield's Cutlers Company, in 1743. While trying to repair the handle of a customer's decorative knife, he heated it too much and the silver started to melt. When he examined the damaged handle, he noticed that the silver and copper had fused together very strongly. Experiments showed that the two metals behaved as one when he tried to reshape them, even though he could clearly see two different layers.

Boulsover set up in business, funded by Strelley Pegge of Beauchief, and carried out further experiments in which he put a thin sheet of silver on a thick ingot of copper and heated the two together to fuse them. When the composite block was hammered or rolled to make it thinner, the two metals were reduced in thickness at similar rates. Using this method, Boulsover was able to make sheets of metal which had a thin layer of silver on the top surface and a thick layer of copper underneath. When this new material was used to make buttons, they looked and behaved like silver buttons but were a fraction of the cost.

The technique Boulsover developed was to sandwich an ingot of copper between two plates of silver, tightly bind it with wire, heat it in a furnace and then mill it out in to sheet, from which objects could be made.

Our reference: A3806