Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-06-13
England's Royal Plate.
Thomas J. Bowditch in Troy Times


ment called "The Gold Room" In
that room the gold-plate is valued at
SD 100000. Much of this plate is only
A good part however, is of
solid gold, and $4,000 900 was the es-
timated value of the whole whether the
material was gold or silver. 1t is said
to be an irksome thing to get out and
Law the plate for state dinner, so enor-
nous is the weight. 1t is handled and
placed by the royal pages, some Of them
having been over fifty years in service.
One salver in the Gold Room is of
immense size five feet In diamet5r),
and was made from the gold snuff boxes
alone of George ", presented to him
by various cities and towns, the lids and
Inscriptions curiously preserved on the
surface IN kind of mosaic of gold, and
this salver is valued at $780, 900.
Among other curious articles there is
a dinner service of silver, presented to
Victoria's uncle William ", when he
was Duke of Clarence, the donors being
the merchants of Liverpool, in reward
for royal service rendered to them by
his advocacy of the slave trade. Forty
years later, when he Was king, he
signed the act of Parliament which abol-
ished slavery in the British dOminions
on and from August 1, 1884.
A candelabrum of gold, to be used for
lighting the dinner table, which is
among the plate at Windsor, is so heavy
that two strong men are required to
lift it. It's value is $50, 900. There are
40 dozen of gold table and teaspoons,
of six different patterns, and golden
plates of various sizes sufficient to dine
$50 persons.
It will be noticed that with all the
modern improvements and facilities for
workmanship and manufacture, it is
easy to detect even by the polish sill
yer spoon made recently from one
made a 100 years ago. The old plate is
heavier, owing to its having been well
hammered in the making, which re-
duced the thickness but retained the
weight.
In most parts of Europe what is called
"plate" (from the Greek word pldtLS,
broad, because first applied to dishes
and plates) can not be sold after it Is
completed until it has received par
ticular and recognizable mark from the
government that it contains no more
than the legal quantity of alloy. In the
United States where large quantity of
silver and very small amount OF gold
ware is made, the purchaser is not pro-
tected in this manner and must take
.
genuine. Respectable manufacturers
indeed do stamp the word coin with
their own name and initials on the plate,
and, so far, this is a protection to the
purchaser.
The processes of making gold and sill
yer plate are numerous, and often deli
cate. By mechanical means (pressure
between steel rollers), a thin layer of
gold or silver may be made to adhere to
a thicker plate of some cheaper metal;
but true gold plate has no such inferior
layer.
The process of rolling, casting, punch
ing, chasing, hammering, stamping sol
dering, riveting, all come into requisl-
ton in the manufacture of piece of
gold plate, and also largely in that made
of silver. Electrotyping, which has so
largely taken the place of the real and
1897 Thomas Spencer, a picture-frame
maker in England, and Prof jacob,
great chemist in Russia, simultaneously
discovered electro metallurgy, by means
of which inferior metals may be coated,
almost to any thickness, by deposits of
gold, silver or copper chemically held
III a solution.
A hundred years ago Horace WaIpole
mentioned in letter from Derby that
the greatest curiosity he had met on his
provincial tour was pair of candle
sticks wrought under new process.
This was the "plated ware" which for
nearly a century was the peculiar and
profitable manufacture of the towns of
Sheffield and Birmingham. Electro
plated ware of the highest artistic merit
is manufactured in the United States,
most largely in New England
Noru little ci 1Envyvaro 1loiorbi add
very little jewelry, was manufacturers
this country before the beginning ofthe
present century. In Providence, r. l.,
this industrial art was begun about 1874.
About 100 persons were employed III 1t
at Providence in 1910. The principal
production in this line is still at Provi-
dence, where the making Of silverware
was and is carried on largely. All
through the United States electro-plated
wares have largely superseded those of
solid silver. To the eye even of an ex-
pert there is no difference between the
real plate and its counterfeit.
The mania for old china and crockery
ware, which dates pretty far back and
reached an obvious state OF eXtrav-
agance. is certainly on the wane.
Collectors have discovered new sub
ject for costly enthusiasm. Old silver is
supplanting old china. Intrinsically it
is more valuable. A handsome cup or
an ornamented dish is nothing but clay
at its best and is worth nothing when
broken into pieces.
On the other hand, old silver is always
valuable, however broken or b tered,
as a precious metal. Parodying
couplet in one of Moore's Irish melo-
dies, we may say OF 1t:
You may break, you may ruin, the vase if you
will,
But the worth of the metal remains with it still.
How a Contractor Makes Money.
From the New York Evening Sun.