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VINTAGE HOME DECOR

EL-SIL-CO

(ELGIN SILVERSMITH COMPANY)

CANDELABRA / CANDLESTICK

STERLING SILVER

#2997

MEASURES ABOUT 7.5" x 3.5" x 3"

ELEGEANT TABLE ACCENT

c. 1946 (WWII ERA)

MID CENTURY MODERN / AMERICANA

(FORMERLY LUDWIG & REDLICH)

 
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FYI
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Elgin American Manufacturing Company 

For many decades, The Elgin American Manufacturing Company employed a wide variety of metals, including silver plate, in the production of an eclectic collection of products. The company’s long and exciting story contains more than a handful of confusing plot points. To bypass any potential problems, we must begin in the latter half of the 19th century, with the brothers Eppenstein.

Of Hungarian, German, and Jewish descent, Max Charles Eppenstein immigrated to New York City from Alsace in 1868. Together with some fellow Jewish immigrants, he got a job in the jewelry industry and became quite successful. Naturalized in 1876, he frequently visited his family members who had remained in Europe, presumably to coax them into joining him in America. Finally, in 1880, his younger brother Solomon C. Eppenstein joined him in Chicago, where Max had set up shop two years prior. Max married an Australian-born Jewish woman named Louise Marks, and they had two sons, Louis and Percy.

Upon Solomon’s 1880 arrival, M.C. Eppenstein and Company (also known as Eppenstein Brothers Co.) was established at 67 Washington St., Chicago, Illinois. Wholesale jewelry proved more than a match for them in the beginning: Solomon was captured and fined by police for the crime of attempting to smuggle thirteen gold watches into the U.S. from Canada. The watches—valued at $1,000—were confiscated, and Solomon was made to pay a $100 penalty.

Then, in November of 1888, the Eppenstein Brothers bought some patents from inventor Frederic Ecaubert to launch, in partnership with Canadian watchmaker Thomas W. Duncan, a new watch case manufacturing company that they would name the Illinois Watch Case Company. Eventually, Max and Solomon Eppenstein would be taken to court by Ecaubert for their failure to pay the agreed-upon royalties. In further attempts to rise to riches, Solomon opened a pawnbroking business, and Max pounced on an opportunity to purchase the Aurora Watch Company. The last effort failed, however, in part because he only offered a fifth of the company’s assessed value. Despite these setbacks, in January of 1890, the Eppensteins were featured on the “Prosperous Chicagoans” list published by the Chicago Daily Tribune.

Their troubles did not end there, however. Ousted from the Watch Trust organization for cost-cutting, the Eppensteins relocated to Elgin in 1890. The two powerhouses in the Watch Trust—The Waltham Watch Company and The Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin Illinois—made life increasingly difficult for the brothers, whose 1890 catalog demonstrated temporary submissiveness and a much-reduced reliance on watchcases in favor of other products. Still, the Eppensteins would not be kept down. Ever the opportunists, the brothers renamed their firm in 1892: now trading as The Elgin National Watch Case Company of Elgin Illinois. This ploy, even at the time, drew both suspicion and ire. It was seen as a clear-cut effort to poach customers from The Elgin National Watch Company. Far from deterred, the Eppensteins switched tactics, putting out new product lines under the names “Elgin Tiger,” “Elgin Commander,” and “Elgin Giant,” to name a few. The wealth they accrued as a result allowed for the creation in 1898 of a subsidiary: the Elgin American Manufacturing Company (EAM), which would bolster the Illinois Watch Case Company’s growing influence by producing novelty items in the vein of lockets, charms, pins, buttons, cigarette cases, and similar articles. The name of this subsidiary sparked a legal battle that ended with a Supreme Court decision in the Eppensteins’ favor.

At the turn of the century, financial troubles caused Max Eppenstein to lay off 150 of his employees, nearly sparking a strike. The Elgin American Manufacturing Company made watch cases and accessories into the 1940s. In 1952, David M. King (assignor for the Eppensteins’ company) earned the company a patent for reinforced but thin and lightweight metal plates. The technique was applied first to watch cases, cigarette cases, and lockets. Thus the company naturally transitioned to vanity cases because of the similarity in their opening and closing mechanisms.

Although, for a time, their big sellers were vanities and smoker sets, what cemented Elgin American Manufacturing’s popularity was its compacts, many of which were silver-plated. Elgin remained for many years in close competition with other American brands like Volupté and Evans. However, what sets Elgin apart from its rivals is its longevity. For nearly the entire lifespan of compact production in the United States, it was a primary contributor to the industry.

Our ability to parse the tumultuous adventures of the Eppenstein Brothers, and their business misadventures, is thanks in good measure to the work of E. C. Alft (born in 1925). This American historian served as mayor of Elgin, Illinois, from 1967 to 1971. Among other helpful revelations, the name-based confusion between The Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois, and the Eppensteins’ firm proved invaluable in putting all the jigsaw pieces in their places.

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Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The minimum millesimal fineness is 925.

Fine silver (99.9% pure) is generally too soft for producing large functional objects, and in Sterling the silver is usually alloyed with copper to give strength whilst preserving the ductility of the silver and a high precious metal content. Other metals can replace the copper, usually with the intent to improve various properties of the basic sterling alloy such as reducing casting porosity, eliminating firescale, and increasing resistance to tarnish. These replacement metals include germanium, zinc, platinum as well as a variety of other additives including silicon and boron. A number of alloys claiming firescale and/or tarnish resistance have appeared in recent years sparking heavy competition between the various manufacturers and their different formulations. No one alloy has emerged as an industry leader or standard and ongoing alloy development is a very active area.

Origin of the term

The term "Sterling Silver," in reference to the .925 grade of silver, emerged in England by the 13th century.

The terms "sterling" and "pound sterling", seem to have acquired their meaning over a while, and from several convergent sources. The first mention is that of "sterilensis" in 1078, and by the thirteenth century (the 1200s) the term sterling had appeared. "Sterling" is believed to come from the Old Norman French esterlin (meaning little star) and Old English stiere (strong, firm, immovable).

Mint mark theory

The 1955 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary states that the early Middle English name sterling was presumably descriptive of small stars that were visible on early Norman pennies. (Old English: steorling.) Although marks of birds have been used in some coins of Edward the Confessor, sterling is not likely to have been derived from starling, as the word for starling at the time was spelt stær; if the coin had been named after the bird, it would have been shortened to starling.

Easterling theory

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2006)

Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

An alternative explanation put forth by Walter de Pinchebek circa 1300 is that Sterling Silver may have been known first as "Easterling Silver". The term "Easterling Silver" is believed to have been used to refer to the grade of silver that had originally been used as the local currency in an area of Germany, known as "The Easterling".

This "Easterling" area consisted of five towns in the northern part of Germany (east of England) that banded together in the 12th century under the name Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League proceeded to engage in considerable commerce with England. In payment for English cattle and grain, the League used their local currency. This currency was in the form of 92.5% silver coins. England soon learned that these coins, which they referred to as "the coins of the Easterlings", were of a reliably high quality and hardness.

King Henry II set about to adopt the alloy as the standard for English currency. He recruited metal refiners from The Easterling and put them to work making silver coins for England. The silver these refiners produced came into usage as currency by 1158 in the form of what are now known as "Tealby Pennies", and was eventually adopted as a standard alloy throughout England. The original name "Easterling Silver" was later abbreviated to "Sterling Silver".

Though coin weights and silver purity varied considerably (reaching a low point before the reign of Elizabeth I, who reinstated Sterling Silver coinage for the first time since the early 14th century), the pound sterling was used as currency in England from the 12th century until the middle of the 20th century. Specifically this was in the silver coins of the British Empire: Britain, British colonies, and some former British colonies. This sterling coin silver is not to be confused with the Coin silver standard.

Sterling silver, no longer used in circulating currency, is still used for flatware, jewellery and plate, and is a grade of silver respected for both relatively high purity and sufficient hardness to form durable objects in daily use.

Hallmarks

A sterling silver object that is to be sold commercially is, in many countries, taken to an Assay office for testing of the purity of the metal. The item is then marked, usually via hammer and punch, with the Hallmark of that particular nation. Because this process leaves sharp edges and spurs of metal, it is generally done before the item is sent for its final wheel polishing.

 

Hallmarks on British sterling (L-R): Crown signifying city of Sheffield, lion passant, Letter n of a style dating piece to 1905, maker's insignia for Walker & Hall.

1680 maker's mark on base of a candlestick, for Robert Cooper, LondonThe Hallmark for sterling silver varies from nation to nation. The United Kingdom and Ireland have a highly structured hallmarking system. The stamps on British and Irish sterling silver impart a wide range of information. First, a stamp to indicate the purity of the silver was applied. This was usually a Lion Passant, but there were variations over the years. Next was a letter to indicate the date. The typeface, whether the letter is uppercase or lowercase, and even the shape inside which the letter is stamped, must all be taken together to determine the year. Last to be stamped was a symbol to indicate the city in which the piece was manufactured. For example, a crown of a certain style indicated the city of Sheffield, while an anchor indicated the city of Birmingham (both well-known for silver production). This system of hallmarking is still in use today.

The French hallmark for sterling silver was the head of the goddess Minerva. In fact, the French standard for sterling silver was higher than that of other nations, requiring a silver content of 950 parts per thousand. Silver items with a slightly lower grade of silver, 800 parts per thousand, were also manufactured, and these were marked with the head of Minerva, next to which was a "2". (Pieces from other nations also were manufactured in this lower grade of silver, but are stamped "800".)

In some countries, such as the United States, no national hallmark was ever adopted, although the city of Baltimore did maintain its own assay office between 1814-1830. The words "STERLING", "925", or "coin" were simply stamped into the piece. Because of this, some companies within the U.S., such as Tiffany and Gorham, adopted their own marking systems. For example, pieces from the Gorham company can be identified by a Lion Passant (or Lion Rampant, depending on the year), an anchor and the letter "G", and sometimes an accompanying number to indicate the style.

In addition to the hallmarks, silver manufacturers often applied their own specific stamp. For example, the letters "T. and Co." indicates a piece manufactured by Tiffany and Company. As mentioned above, the letter "G" indicated the Gorham Company. These stamps were as unique as today's logos, and disputes often arose when one company copied another's stamp.

The difficulty with hallmarking systems other than those of the United Kingdom and Ireland are that in most cases one cannot pinpoint the manufacture to a specific year, but instead to a range of years during which the company was in business. Many larger companies did put out yearly catalogs, however, and these can be used as a reference to narrow down the date of a specific piece. In fact, there are people who make a good income doing research on the history of specific sterling pieces.

Due to sterling silver having a very special characteristic in sound resonance, some brasswind instruments manufacturers also apply 92.5% sterling silver as the material for making their instruments including the flute and saxophones. For example, some leading saxophone manufactuers such as Selmer, P.Mauriat, and Yanagisawa, have created some of their saxophones made from sterling silver which they believe the instruments will become more resonant and warmer in the sound performance.

History of sterling silver and dining regalia

19th Century Tiffany & Co. Pitcher. Circa 1871. Pitcher has paneled sides, and repousse design with shells, scrolls and flowers. Top edge is repousse arrowhead leaf design.From about 1840 to somewhere around 1940 in the United States and Europe, sterling silver flatware became de rigueur when setting a proper table. In fact, there was a marked increase in the number of silver companies that emerged during that period.

The height of the silver craze was during the 50-year period from 1870 to 1920. Flatware lines during this period sometimes included up to 100 different types of pieces. In conjunction with this, the dinner went from three courses to sometimes ten or more. There was a soup course, a salad course, a fruit course, a cheese course, an antipasto course, a fish course, the main course and a pastry or dessert course.

Individual eating implements often included forks (dinner fork, place fork, salad fork, pastry fork, shrimp or cocktail fork), spoons (teaspoon, coffee spoon, demitasse spoon, bouillon spoon, gumbo soup spoon, iced tea spoon) and knives (dinner knife, place knife, butter spreader, fruit knife, cheese knife). This was especially true during the Victorian time period, when etiquette dictated that nothing should be touched with one's fingers.

Serving pieces were often elaborately decorated and pierced and embellished with ivory, and could include any or all of the following: carving knife and fork, salad knife and fork, cold meat fork, punch ladle, soup ladle, gravy ladle, casserole serving spoon, berry spoon, lasagna server, macaroni server, asparagus server, cucumber server, tomato server, olive spoon, cheese scoop, fish knife and fork, pastry server, petit four server, cake knife, bon bon spoon, sugar sifter or caster and crumb remover with brush.

Flatware sets were often accompanied by tea services, hot water pots, chocolate pots, trays and salvers, goblets, demitasse cups and saucers, liqueur cups, bouillon cups, egg cups, sterling plates, napkin rings, water and wine pitchers and coasters, candelabra and even elaborate centerpieces.

In fact, the craze with sterling even extended to business (sterling page clips, mechanical pencils, calling card boxes, cigarette cases), to the boudoir (sterling dresser trays, mirrors, hair and suit brushes, pill bottles, manicure sets, shoe horns, perfume bottles, powder bottles, hair clips) and even to children (cups, flatware, rattles, christening sets).

A number of factors converged to make sterling fall out of favor around the time of World War II. The cost of labor rose (sterling pieces were all still mostly man-made, with only the basics being done by machine). Only the wealthy could afford the large number of servants required for fancy dining with ten courses. And changes in aesthetics resulted in people desiring simpler dinnerware that was easier to clean. (The latter was especially important as more became known about disease.)

 

 

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