How do you clean the inside grille?

Use a soft dry brush. Silver dip will pool in the tiny pierced holes and strip the original gilding. Do not pry a stuck grille.

What marks should I look for?

Check the inner lip of the base and the inside of the lid. You want to find matching maker's marks and date letters on both halves. Sometimes the grille carries a tiny lion passant or a monarch's head. Assayers stamped these parts separately before assembly.

I inherited a small silver box that looks like a book and has a pierced plate inside, is this considered a vinaigrette?

That pierced plate is the grille, which means you have a vinaigrette. Silversmiths often stamped the exterior silver to mimic the tooling on leather book bindings. The book form was heavily produced in Birmingham during the mid-nineteenth century. They turn up frequently with ribbed spines and engine-turned covers.

The gold wash on the inside of my box is starting to wear thin in patches, can it be re-plated or should I leave it alone?

Leave the interior surface exactly as it is. Wear to the gilding shows honest use over two centuries of handling. Modern electroplating looks flat compared to the original mercury gilding. Adding a new layer of gold changes the colour and ruins the historic surface.

Home > Silver > Silver Vinaigrettes > Page 3

Antique Silver Vinaigrettes

← Page 3 of 3 →

Small silver boxes with hinged lids and pierced interior grilles, antique silver vinaigrettes were carried in pockets to hold a sponge soaked in sharp aromatics designed to mask foul street smells.