Unusual gunpowder flask

[Mel H]

Originally Posted by thinreadline

If these are British silver hallmarks they dont really make much sense ... either that , of they are too worn for my eyes to make sense of them !
There has to be the following : a Standard mark ( to indicate it is Sterling Silver ) , a City mark , a Date Letter , and a Makers Mark. The makers mark , normally initials, always comes last & try as I may I cant discern anything from the last set of marks. Equally I am struggling to see a Standard Mark here , which would be a Lion Passant for this period ... w/o the standard mark , we are not dealing with silver and therefore cannot date it.
It may be silverplate ... which is well known for its 'lookalike' 'hallmarks' often enigmatically designed to mislead the buyer .

Yes, these are typical plate marks used on silver plated items produced in the 19th C. they don't generaly give much usefull information.
Quite often they have four letters which resemble 'hallmarks' which are E.P.N.S. meaning that the item is Electro Plated Nickel Silver. Another is E.P.B.M. a lesser quality product similar to pewter, Electro Plated Britania Metal.
I'm not sure that the manufacturers, many of whom were high class establishments, were deliberately trying to mislead the buyers or whether they were catering for a demand from buyers who preffered to own items that would appear to be more expensive than they were.

Check out my next post for an update on the makers marks