Hi everyone, I picked up a small teapot at an estate sale and it is marked as follows:
REED&BARTON
5 8 4 0 S 29 (turned sideways)
8OZ
It has a faint decorative “SS” marking on one side. Any idea what this is?
Thanks!
It’s silverplate, not sterling, of decorative value only. The “SS” is simply the monogram of someone to whom the teapot was presented (like “Sam Smith”).
Huge polishing job ahead, should you choose to try to rescue it. Might not be worth the effort, and if you get too aggressive, you’ll polish right through the plate, and it will be dumpster time.
The other numbers are simply the maker’s pattern number, lost in the mists of time. The “8oz” might just refer to the capacity of the pot, though that’s only one fluid cup, which is pretty small. That’s truly “tea for one.”
Thanks for the information! I suspected it wasn’t worth much of anything but I did get it for around a dollar so it doesn’t really matter. The silver-lined interior is luckily in pristine shape so that is nice at least. Any idea what time period we are talking about here?
This could be from anywhere between the mid-19th Century to the mid-20th Century. Even American sterling usually lacks any reliable dating info, and silver plate is a real wild card. From the nicely chunky style (I kind of like it!), I would guess 19th Century, but that would just be a WAG.
This might be a good candidate for the “aluminum foil, baking soda, and boiling water” treatment, as a first step to banishing the tarnish. What have you got to lose? 