The most versatile and widely available of precious metals, silver combines brilliance with strength and the ability to be intricately worked by a variety of techniques to create objects of great beauty.

Pure Silver is too soft to be made into articles that must withstand daily wear and tear, so it is alloyed (blended) with a base metal — usually copper — to make it tougher and more malleable. Most antique and modern silver in Britain is of sterling standard, which contains 92.5 per cent pure silver to 7.5 per cent base metal. From 1697 to 1720, a higher proportion of silver— 95.8 per cent—had to be used. This is now known as Britannia standard silver because the standard mark on such pieces — one of the hallmarks — is the figure of Britannia. The purity of Britannia silver means that it is slightly whiter and softer than sterling silver, usually showing more wear. After r 720, Britannia standard became optional and the slightly less pure sterling silver was once again the legal minimum that silversmiths could use. (Alloys with less silver may only be called `white metal‘ or ‘silver-coloured metal‘.)

Antique Collector Magazine

There was always a demand for articles with the appearance of real silver but at lower cost. The answer was to make the silver only skin- deep — a thin coating on an article made mainly of base metal. The earliest successful solution was fused or Old Sheffield plate — copper sheet coated on one or both sides by sterling silver — which could be worked and decorated by most methods used for solid sheet silver.

In the mid-19th century, fused plate was eclipsed by electroplating — the use of an electric current to deposit a thin coating of pure silver on an article prefabricated from base metal. This was much easier and more versatile than working with Old Sheffield plate — it could encompass casting as well as sheet-metal working — and the silver could be even thinner and therefore cheaper.

Forming silver articles

Refined and molten sterling silver could either be cast directly into the required shape or cast into ingots which were hammered or rolled to make sheets of uniform thickness.

These were then shaped or fabricated. (Much sheet silver was made by hammering well into the 20th century, in spite of the first rolling mills being built in the late 17th.)

The most common use of casting has been for as mall parts, such as handles, feet, spouts and decorative swags, which were then soldered onto the body of an article made from sheet silver. But entirely cast pieces include some candlesticks, cups, salt cellars, and large, elaborate objects such as epergnes and sculptural candelabra. Larger pieces may have been cast in two or more parts which were then soldered together. Casting could produce multiple copies from a single master or model of wood, plaster or metal. The usual method was sand-casting using a two-part mould, but for some complex objects the lost-wax process might be used.

Raising and Fabricating; Finishing Touches

Many silver vessels were ‘raised’ into shape from a sheet of flat metal by hammering. The metal was held over a ‘raising stake’ — which could vary from a simple wooden post to an anvil-like support with variously shaped heads— and the sides gradually hammered to the desired form. This prolonged hammering would make the metal brittle, however, and the silver had to be annealed from time to time as it was worked — heated to dull red heat, then quenched in cold water—to make it malleable again.

For simple, tall shapes such as a conical or octagonal teapot, the silver might be bent and soldered to form a cylinder before final shaping, or soldered together from precut pieces of silver. A quicker process for circular vessels, introduced in the late 18th century, is known as spinning. The sheet silver was forced gradually into the required shape against a wooden form, called a chuck, while the two rotated slowly in a lathe.

After the shaping process, some finishing stages were needed to remove blemishes and produce a gleaming surface. The silver might be ‘pickled’ in acid to remove any dark ‘fire’ marks caused by traces of copper oxidising just beneath the surface. Dents and scratches might be removed by filing and buffing, or on a plain piece ironed out with a smooth- headed `planishing’ hammer. Finally the metal would be burnished, often with a mixture of ground pumice stone, soft red sand and oil, or sometimes with jeweller’s rouge — a form of polishing powder.

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