Jill asks: Here's my 2nd of 5 appraisal requests.

AW says: That's a European silver plated liquor decanter. Likely a Sheffield Plate co. of England. Antique silver plate should not be polished with most silver cleaners, as the silver will wear away and expose the base metal, in this case, you can see that the base metal on yours is copper.

While pieces with base metal do still have value, they lose value in proportion to the amount of base metal showing through.

Date range: 1840-90

Retail value: $95 in it's current condition.
(top price)

Wholesale value: $35
(The mid range price you could expect to achieve at a well advertised live auction. The price that is most often realized)


Quick sale value: $15-$25
The price your likely to get if you have to sell your item immediately and your prospective customer is aware of this.

Common terminology, nicknames, keywords: ttttt

In most cases, I believe it would be beneficial for your to give the prospective buyer a link to this page, and to bookmark it via your favorite bookmarking service.

On occasion I've had readers ask for the contact information for the owners of items I've appraised here.
If you are interested in an item which was appraised here, state so in the comment section and leave your email address if you wish to be contacted by the owner of the item. I do not give out client emails.

If you've had your item appraised here, you may want to check back to see if anyone has expressed interest in it via the comment section.

Care and storage tips: You have to be extremely careful when polishing any old silver plate. The true answer is that any polish can wipe the finish off, in fact, if you rub hard enough with a rag ONLY, you can wipe off the silver on some pieces.

Silver polish is NOT advisable for silver plate.