I acquired a silver-looking covered serving dish with fancy script initials "BF" on both the cover and the dish. No other original markings are on it. Anyone know what this is made of? Who made it?
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Most items will actually say if they are plated or not, and if they are marked with .925 on them, that means they are probably sterling silver, but if you don't see any markings on them, it is most likely plated.
Most likely the BF is a monogram - someones initials and was presented as a gift.
I have seen pieces like this in shopping malls and they engrave anything you want on the pieces - usually do the work while you wait.
The script letters are most likely the initials of the first owner, as engraved pieces were frequent (and highly coveted) wedding gifts in the 1940s-1960s on everything from cooking items to decorative items to clothing to bath towels.
This piece looks like it is from that era.
It is hard to tell from the photo the size--so my best guesstimates are it is a chafing dish (which if it is would have had a matching stand to hold the candle/Sterno) or it is covered candy dish.
For the metal--Does a magnet stick to it? If so it is could be plated silver (silver over steel or nickel).
If not, then the challenge is it could also be plated silver over copper or another metal that does not have a huge magnet draw. OR it could be sterling silver OR pewter.
Your piece does not look tarnished so it may be pewter (both sterling and plated silver tarnish badly).
While sterling silver is SUPPOSED always to be marked (there are many, many notations from the word sterling, to 925, 95, 825, 800, M95 and more) it sometimes wears off if the piece has a lot of use (rings and old tea sets are notorious for having the mark wear off) so having a professional who can put it under the testing machine or do an acid test is the only positive way to ID the piece.
If they do the acid test, be sure they do it in an inauspicious place in case it isn't and you want to resell it for other than scrap.
There are so many variables with silver and gold. Even if it is mark, this industry over the years has always been rife for fraud. What I mean by this is there are many marked pieces that you think are real silver and gold and they are not. It is infuriating! Sadly there have been, and probably always will be, dishonest makers (and former owners) who mark things that aren't. This is why testing is so important and if you buy new, to only buy from reputable places.
Post back what an expert tells you! Neat piece!! Thanks for sharing!
Silver is marked with 925, SS, STER or sterling. If you dont see that, it is probably plated. You can always take it to a jeweler to make sure.
All true sterling silver items have a special marking on them and numbers to tell you the quantity of silver in each item. This one does not so it is more than likely just silver plated and the marking you are seeing are initials that were engraved on the item from a store.
personally i think that its probable not real silver then because usually silver has specific markings that do not have letters, if i am not mistaken its usually a number and pretty long one. Like a vin number
A majority of non-plated silver items will be marked in some way, shape, or form unless they are made before the 1600s +/- , and not WW2. The majority of what you'll often come across is usually from the late 1800s to present. Admittedly, 925 and sterling are the most commonly seen marks to indicate real silver vs. plated items they definitely ARE NOT the only marks that are used to identify real silver items. Common marks for plated(thin coating of silver) items include "EPNS", "EPS", "EP, "BP", nickel silver, german silver, britannia silver(not to be confused with britannia grade silver which is 95% silver), mexican silver, A1, Aplus, Quadruple plated, silver inlayed, silver on copper, or anything resembling an acronym using a combination of the letters E, P, N, S, or S,P, or SP, etc would most likely be plated.
The best 3 ways to assuredly do so is 1) find the assay mark(purity of silver content of your item) which can be in the form of 925/sterling or it can be a mix of letters, symbols, acronyms etc. This is especially true for items older than the late 1800's. So either find a reliable silver mark guide to identify 2) buy a silver testing solution and obtain a sample of your item fairly deep as possible(scratching a bit off of a flat side or somewhere unseen is best)
3) take it to a jeweler
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