This is an elegant pair of antique English George III Old Sheffield Plate candlesticks, in the Adam taste, circa 1775 in date.
The candlesticks are of Corinthian design and have detachable sconces. The bases of the sticks have two bands of gadroon decoration and the columns are have twisted scallop banding decorated with acanthus leaves.
Add some elegance to your dining experience with these lovely candlesticks.
Condition:
In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation of condition.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 27 cm x Width 12 cm x Depth 12 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 11 inches x Width 5 inches x Depth 5 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 sil
...ver 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: A4515
Internal Reference: A4515
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1147281
Dateline of this antique is 18th Century
Height is 27cm (10.6inches)Width is 12cm (4.7inches)Depth is 12cm (4.7inches)
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