Description
A nice quality pair of antique English Old Sheffield Plate candlesticks. Cylindrical fluted columns raised on square stepped bases with reeded decoration. Finished at the top with Corinthian style decorated capitals & removable sconces. Evidence of Old Sheffield Plate can be seen with the very small areas of copper ingot showing through the sheet of silver surface. Green baize on the underside with one being a newly replaced piece. Lovely collectors item.
 
Old Sheffield Plate or Fused Plate.
 
Fused plating is a process in which a thin sheet of silver is fused by heat to a much thicker copper ingot, the two metals then reacting as one when hammered or rolled. Produced from the 1740’s to the middle of the 19th century, it is now more commonly known as Old Sheffield Plate. This process predates silver plating or EPNS (electroplated nickel silver) as it is known which was first used on a commercial scale by Elkington & Co in Birmingham which involves assembling the object first before depositing a layer of silver over the entire piece by electroplating.  
 
Weight
2.3 Kg (total)
 
Dimensions
Base
125mm x 125mm
 
Height
295mm
 
Condition.
Excellent condition with light surface marks that are consistent with genuine age, use & polishing. There are no dings or dents & there is just the tiny loss of silver plate on the very extremities on the base corners.