Electro-plate produced during the nineteenth century may become as collectable as certain other pieces of Victoriana, and for the beginner in particular it has several other things to commend it. At the moment it is usually very reasonably priced. It is also interesting since it reflects the amazing conglomeration of styles which jockeyed with each other for a place of supremacy in Victorian fashion. Also, although the age of mass-production had established itself, some of the hand techniques used in the making of Sheffield plate or sterling silver wares were retained and used for some years on their electro-plated counterparts. The colour of early electro-plate, although not comparable with sterling silver or Sheffield plate, is also far more mellow than the harsh tones of modern electro-plate. Certain examples, particularly teapots and coffee pots, were quite robust considering their low cost then and now, and in some cases might even be described as sturdy compared with the lightweight objects produced today.

As in the case of Sheffield plate, the collecting potential is vast since so many objects were electro-plated. An additional advantage is that a great quantity of cutlery was electro-plated and today sets of a dozen pieces or so can be bought for a few pounds, providing time is taken to browse and choose with care. All in all, therefore, this much-maligned method of plating deserves for, quite apart from the points mentioned, a potential collector intending to take the subject fairly seriously cannot help but acquire a knowledge of Victorian styles and decoration which will stand him in good stead when it comes to spending larger sums on sterling silver.

Antique Collector MagazineThe young Queen Victoria had been on the throne for a short while when a patent was taken out by G. R. Elkington and 0. W. Barratt which was to have far-reaching effects on the plating industry in England. It was concerned with a new process for coating metals with zinc in a revolutionary way which was far removed from the working of metal by fire, the method used since ancient times. By the wording in which the patent was couched it is thought that a single-cell battery was used, an idea which was not new to scientists who had been working on experiments in electro-metallurgy following Alessandro Volta’s invention of an electric battery in 1800. Only five years later, in 1805, Brugnatelli made history by using electrolysis to coat two silver medals with gold. Although this was a big step forward there were still many technical problems to be resolved, among which were those of achieving an even deposit over the complete surface of the piece and also of getting this to adhere permanently.

Experimental work continued and much progress was made until by 1840 a doctor by the name of John Wright had hit upon the answer. He had been using solutions of cyanides of gold and silver in cyanide of potassium in his experiments, and had met with considerable success in solving the problem of a consistent adhesive coating of silver. In that year he entered into partnership with Elkington and Company, selling them the secrets of his discovery for a sum of money and royalties on all silver deposited on electro-plate as well as all licences granted under the patent. It would appear that his business acumen matched his scientific ability.

Before the idea could become a viable commercial proposition, however, more work needed to be carried out and during the years which followed Elkingtons applied for revised patents. One such is of great interest and importance since it concerned the making of electrotypes of existing pieces of silver, by causing either silver or gold to be deposited by electrical means in or on suitable models. A few years later another Elkington patent dealt with a new technique for producing a gold design on silver or other metal surfaces. The method was simple but effective and in its final stages allowed the gold design to be made permanent by the electric process of gilding. By the concluding years of the 1840s further developments made possible the inclusion of sulphur or carbon compounds to the solutions of metal which gave the object a more lustrous surface during the electro-deposition. In only a few years since

John Wright had made his discovery, electro-plating was thus well on the way to becoming an established process. Elkingtons had shrewdly purchased the patents for electro-plating methods which had been taken out by others at that time, in order that competition would be eliminated as far as possible, so the commercial potential was enormous. Future years were to prove just how vast.

One of the reasons for the difference in colour between old Sheffield plate and electro-plate is the quality of the silver which was used. The former, as has already been stated, used silver of sterling quality (925 fine). Electro-plated wares and objects required pure silver. This accounts for the brighter, harsher colour of electro-plate and can help collectors to tell at a glance whether a piece is made of old Sheffield plate or electro-plate, although the latter also mellows with age. The detail of the ornament on electro-plate, depending on which type, may also be rather ‘masked’. To differentiate between the two techniques it was not uncommon for manufacturers of Sheffield plate or British plate made after the introduction of electro-plate to describe their products as ‘plated by fire’, a term which implied superiority over electro-deposition, during which process minute particles of silver were taken from a sheet of pure silver — hung in the vat — by an electric current and deposited onto the surface of the base metal. On its removal burnishing, a task allotted to women, was necessary.

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Electro-plate Collectibles part 1