Button-making was an important industry in its own right. By the 1770s it is recorded that over 80 master button-makers, producing all types of buttons, were working in Birmingham where button-making had been prolific for over 100 years. Sheffield plate was ideal for this purpose and had been used for button-making since it was discovered by Thomas Boulsover circa 1742. By the 1780s Birmingham button-makers produced large quantities of buttons and included among their numbers Matthew Boulton’s Button Company which was started in 1782. Sheffield plate had gained for itself such a good reputation as a substance for button-making that an Act was passed in 1796 which regulated the quality of metals used for buttons. This Act also stated that plated buttons were to be made from copper to which silver had been affixed by fusing, thus eliminating the use of silvered or other inferior covering being sold as Sheffield plate. An amazing variety of Sheffield plate buttons was produced, including hunting buttons with a central motif and the name of the hunt around the side, racing buttons, shooting buttons, cockfighting buttons, livery buttons and gilded buttons for the uniforms of officers. Early buttons were shaped by hand, but after the 1780s they were die-stamped. Mechanisation gradually speeded up and increased production and by the third decade of the nineteenth century the range had become so diverse that a manufacturer might have over a thousand pairs of dies for stamping arms, crests and motifs of varioustypes.

Antique Collector MagazineThere is a large selection of items from which to choose, therefore, for those with an interest in Sheffield plate, the list of domestic wares and personal objects such as snuff boxes being extensive and all-embracing. Apart from the more ubiquitous pieces there are also charming examples of bygone objects which have a curious fascination of their own. Such an item was the chafing ball. This was a highly desirable object in winter, intended to keep hands warm, perhaps tucked into pockets. With the price of heating fuel at its present level they may be due for a revival in a modern version! They were simply a decoratively-pierced hollow ball about four inches in diameter which opened to reveal a heater or spirit lamp of suitably diminutive measurements swinging in the centre of a gimbal which retained it in a safe position.

Before the invention of friction matches the pipelighter or charcoal brazier must have been of great assistance to the clay-pipe smoker. This was virtually a small pan for holding a smoker’s continuous ‘light’ in the form of glowing charcoal, which generally stood upon a tripod op three short legs above the surface of the table, usually with an attractively- pierced rim. On an accompanying tray were placed small ember tongs, used to pick up the charcoal, with which the smoker would ignite his tobacco. There were probably other uses for this long-defunct object.

During a period when oysters were not regarded as the luxury they are today, attractive scallop-shells were produced in both Sheffield plate and sterling silver, complete with small cockle-shell feet, to contain oysters baked in a delicious sauce or cream with a scattering of crisply-browned breadcrumbs on the top. Such shells had other uses at the table, depending upon requirements, perhaps for butter or succulent fish dishes. They were generally sold in sets of four or six, varying a little in form over the years. They would still have a use today, unlike the practical hot-water plate, a useful device popular for many years, which was originally hand-made but later machine-stamped. The plates or pans consisted of two sections, upper and lower, the latter being fitted with ascrew-cap filler into which the hot water was poured so that food on top would stay warm.

While there was a wide miscellany of domestic objects in Sheffield plate pouring forth from Sheffield and Birmingham, it must not be forgotten that there were also large quantities of cheap, badly-plated wares being imported from France. To some extent these imports were responsible for English manufacturers constantly seeking means to produce a cheaper plate. Collectors should watch out for imported plate, generally spun and of a poor quality since it is greatly inferior. It is not too difficult to detect. Quite apart from the fact that it looks cheap and is light in weight, the colour is. distinctive, having a reddish glow usually deeper than that of English plate where the silver is worn. In fact, since the copper is of adenser shade and the silver extremely thin it imparts a pink colouring in some cases to the actual plate.

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