metal cased bottle

[snipperuk]

hi...... i have had this bottle a few years now and as far as i know came from an undertakers.any info would be greatfully received.the bottle stands approx 10cms tall and 3.5cms dia..... the case is silver in apperance and has a copper colour showing were it has worn slightly..........cheers

 

[David E]

Bottle is a ground top Apothecary, but if copper is showing thru the silver it is silver plate over copper. But by photo it looks more chrome or stainless to me, but those two may not co- incide. with the bottle as it looks older but silver plate would. Wish my memory would come back but maybe Shiefield Plate is same as electro plated. Usually you can find a mark EPNS (for electric plate over nickel) and I would guess but have never see copper as EPCS. Got me confused to, sorry
Dave

 

[snipperuk]

thanks for the reply [] its deffinatally not chrome or stainless...the inside is a dull copper colour and has no stamps or id marks on it [&:] any idea how old the bottle is ? thanks again ......snipper

 

[David E]

I quess if the bottle has no seams, that will not help. I did a little research on Silver. A way was found to give silver the required degree of hardness by adding alloys of copper and nickel. Silversmithing in America goes back to the early 17th Centry in Boston and New York. It began in the early 18th Century in Philadelphia. Boston was influcenced by the English styles. New York by the Dutch. Old Shefield plate was made by a fusen method of silver plating used from the mid 18th century until the mid 1880's when the silver electroplating process was introduced.
Yours looks to be from the 1800's or early 1900's because of the bottle' and is copper plated.(a guess at any rate)

Dave

 

[glopf43]

Hey all. I'm wondereing about the likely use for this bottle and it's cover. Seems to me that it would have been used for something for which you did not want the fumes to escape. Ether, perhaps? By the way, it's interesting how several "undertaker" bottles have come up in the forums lately...