What is the difference between sterling and Sheffield plate?

Sterling is hallmarked solid silver, carrying an assay mark and usually a date letter the dealer quotes in the title. Old Sheffield plate is silver fused onto copper by rolling, made before electroplating arrived. Listings date these largely to about 1775 to 1830, and a fruitwood handle is a recurring feature on them. Electroplate came later, and is what "silver plated" means on Victorian and Edwardian titles.

How old are most of these pots?

The dating supplied by dealers runs from 1700 to 1960. Victorian is the largest group, then Georgian, with a further set given only as 19th century or 18th century. About fifty-four of the hundred and seventy listings carry a clean year. The earliest dated pieces are a French side-handled chocolate pot given as 1700 and a Newcastle pot of 1740.

Do they come as single pots or in sets?

Single pots dominate. The commonest listing is one Victorian sterling pot sold on its own, with no matching pieces. Sets are about one listing in nine, and rise sharply in current stock. Three-, four- and five-piece tea and coffee services turn up, plus sugar bowl and creamer groups and boxed services in fitted cases.

Which assay towns turn up besides London?

Newcastle is the standout provincial town in this archive, with three separate pots attributed to it. Edinburgh, Exeter and Chester account for almost all the rest of the non-London marking, along with one Irish piece.

How big are antique silver coffee pots?

Dealers size the larger sterling pots in pints. Two pint, two and three-quarter pint and three pint all appear in titles, with three pints the biggest seen, on Victorian pots of 1840, 1841, 1853, 1862 and 1869. Weight is quoted in grams on many sterling listings, from around 560 grams upward. The heaviest recorded is an early Victorian pot of 1839 at 1,005 grams. At the other end sit bachelor and solo pots, made for one cup.

Are any of these pots not British?

Most are, but foreign examples do appear. Single pots described as Indian, Anglo-Indian from Calcutta, Italian, French, Swiss 800-standard, American and Danish are scattered across the archive. Around eighteen coffee pots come to market on Sellingantiques in a year, and fifty-three different dealers have listed one, so the supply is spread widely.