Presentation Inkstand – From the Servants of Little Aston
Categories | Presentation Piece |
Markings | Marked - Crown within Shield – Elkington & Co. 941 |
Manufacturer | Elkington & Co |
Origin | England |
Date or Era | 1883 |
Measuring | 7 ½” diameter; 1 ¾” high |
This silverplate inkstand features vignettes of Greek mythological creatures and warriors within circles surrounding the outer edge of the inkstand. Winged griffins stand guard on either side of the warriors with an ornate scepter between them. The lid covering the inkwell features Neptune riding a chariot drawn by four stallions through the ocean. He holds his trident. His cape flows around him as he moves through the waves of water beneath, the sun burst above. Consistent plating loss all over.
There is an inscription on the inside of the lid covering the inkwell:
“Presented to Parker Henderson by the servants of Little Aston Hall on his marriage with Miss B L Atkinson – Jan 1883.”
Marked – Crown within Shield – Elkington & Co. 941
George Richards Elkington (October 17, 1801–September 22, 1865) was a manufacturer from Birmingham, England. He patented the first commercial electroplating process. Elkington was born in Birmingham, the son of a spectacle manufacturer. Apprenticed to his uncles’ silver-plating business in 1815, he became, on their death, sole proprietor of the business, but subsequently took his cousin, Henry Elkington, into partnership. The science of electrometallurgy was then in its infancy, but the Elkingtons were quick to recognize its possibilities. They had already taken out certain patents for the application of electricity to metals when, in 1840, John Wright, a Birmingham surgeon, discovered the valuable properties of a solution of cyanide of silver in potassium cyanide for electroplating purposes. The Elkingtons purchased and patented Wright’s process, subsequently acquiring the rights of other processes and improvements.
The Elkingtons opened a new electroplating works in Newhall Street, in the Jewelry Quarter, Birmingham in 1841, and the following year Josiah Mason, a pen manufacturer, joined the firm and encouraged the Elkingtons to diversify their output, adding more affordable electroplated jewelry and cutlery to the large pieces the company had been producing. Electroplated wares became very successful in the Victorian market and by 1880 the company employed 1,000 people at the Newhall Street site and had a further six factories.
Estimated value: $200
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