Can anyone tell me the year of this stamp? Late 1890’s? See pics at link below:
Likely between 1867 and 1941.
Here’s what I found to make me believe it is from the late 1800’s:
below.
"WILCOX SILVER PLATE CO., Meriden, Conn.
This company was originally organized in 1865 as the Wilcox Britannia Co. and in 1867 changed its name to Wilcox Silver Plate Co. They made silverplated hollowware and in 1869, took over Parker & Casper, a small hollowware concern. The Wilcox factory confined its production to silverplated hollowware which compared favorably with anything on the market at the time. A cut glass department was begun in 1885 and continued in operation for about twenty-five years. When Wilcox Silver Plate Co. was taken over by International Silver Co. in 1898, its lines were continued… "
— Edmund P. Hogan in An American heritage: A book on the International Silver Company (1977), p. 164.
Evidence shows that by 1954 the “Webster-Wilcox” division, combining E. G. Webster & Son and the Wilcox Silver Plate Co., at the International Silver Co. was formed. However, for the historical record, it is incorrectly noted as happening in either 1960 or 1963 in Edmund P. Hogan’s An American heritage: A book about the International Silver Company (1977), (pp. 164 & 170).
I thought they started marking with the “IS” when they merged with International Silver at the end of the 1800’s. And the half moon stamp was in the 1920’s so I figured it was before that.