George III Old Sheffield silver plate large fluted bottle coaster with turned wood base
Exquisite Old Sheffield plate large wine bottle coaster, dating to the George III period. Typical opulent design of the period with dark turned wood base and bombé fluted body. The top of the coaster is trimmed with a beautiful applied high-relief border of scrolling foliage and flowerheads.
Wonderfully ornate piece in very good antique condition and large enough to accommodate several bottle sizes.
300 g
4.5 cm tall
17 cm diameter across the top
12.3 cm internal diameter
Very good antique condition. Some copper bleeding appropriate to age; the wooden insert can be removed; small dings along the bottom edge; there are five small splits to the border on the reverse side; one of the border segments is a bit turned downwards.
Exquisite Old Sheffield plate large wine bottle coaster, dating to the George III period. Typical opulent design of the period with dark turned wood base and bombé fluted body. The top of the coaster is trimmed with a beautiful applied high-relief border of scrolling foliage and flowerheads.
Wonderfully ornate piece in very good antique condition and large enough to accommodate several bottle sizes.
300 g
4.5 cm tall
17 cm diameter across the top
12.3 cm internal diameter
Very good antique condition. Some copper bleeding appropriate to age; the wooden insert can be removed; small dings along the bottom edge; there are five small splits to the border on the reverse side; one of the border segments is a bit turned downwards.
Exquisite Old Sheffield plate large wine bottle coaster, dating to the George III period. Typical opulent design of the period with dark turned wood base and bombé fluted body. The top of the coaster is trimmed with a beautiful applied high-relief border of scrolling foliage and flowerheads.
Wonderfully ornate piece in very good antique condition and large enough to accommodate several bottle sizes.
300 g
4.5 cm tall
17 cm diameter across the top
12.3 cm internal diameter
Very good antique condition. Some copper bleeding appropriate to age; the wooden insert can be removed; small dings along the bottom edge; there are five small splits to the border on the reverse side; one of the border segments is a bit turned downwards.
Sheffield Plate, now known by collectors as "Old Sheffield Plate" was accidentally invented by Thomas Boulsover, of Sheffield's Cutlers Company, in 1743. While trying to repair the handle of a customer's silver 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 developed the technique of sandwiching an ingot of copper between two thin plates of silver, tightly binding it with wire and then heating it in a furnace. This was then milled into sheets from which objects were made.
The production of Sheffield Plate declined after 1840 when George Elkington invented electro silver plating which is why genuine Old Sheffield Plate items are so rare and highly regarded. Furthermore, electroplating tends to produce a "brilliant" surface with a hard colour – as it consists of pure rather than sterling silver and is usually deposited more thinly which causes it to lose silvering much quicker than Old Sheffield ware that still retains its beauty 250 years down the line.
