Belton House Tea Urn

In about 1743 a Sheffield cutler named Thomas Boulsover discovered, probably by accident, that silver could be fused onto copper. He was employed as a cutler and he was repairing the handle of a knife while he accidentally overheated the silver and copper and found that at this temperature the two metals adhered.
He tried to separate them but found that a definite affinity has taken place. He realized the possible application of this discovery and that's how Sheffield Plate was born.

The instant popularity of Sheffield plate was truly amazing. At that time, articles in silver could only be bought by aristocrats, the rest of the people could only use articles in pewter or wood. But with Sheffield plate, even the middle class could afford to buy items very similar to silver. This revolution continued with electro-plating after 1840. The invention of electro-plating in 1838 killed the Old Sheffield plate business even if some pieces were still made in Old Sheffield for other 20 years by some companies.

It is possible to distinguish items in Old Sheffield from electro-plate based on the following considerations:
a) Usually the color of the silver is whiter in appearance than Old Sheffield, which has the same soft blue 'glow' of the old sterling silver.
b) Engraving, which requires the removal of metal, does not feature in Sheffield Plate (except for coats of arms)
c) Old Sheffied items are produced with much higher quality than electro-plate items even if there are some exceptions: Elkington and some American manufacturers (Pairpoint, Barbour, Reed & Barton) produced beautiful electro-plate items.
d) a piece with 'Sheffield Plate' stamped on it is electroplate made in Sheffield at the end of 19th century than the genuine Old Sheffield plate.
e) Most pieces of Old Sheffield plate hollow ware (candlesticks, coffee pot) have a visible seam.
f) Some articles like urns have a liner. Once this is removed, a dull leadish color caused by tin, should be visible on the inside. A silver color inside indicates replating.
g) Decoration is always flat chased. If a piece has the coat of arms, it should be placed on a square or oval of sterling silver. With the time, Old Sheffield and sterling silver get different colors.

Now, let's go back to the tea urns.

Tea urns are containers for hot water. They were initially made in silver but we can see examples of Sheffield Plate as early as 1765. The original ones were small with a capacity of 2-3 liters and were beautiful specimens of fine proportions.
As the industry progressed, the size of urns grew until shortly before termination to examples of gigantic proportion with beautiful decoration.