Antique Old Sheffield Plate Repousse Bottle Holder

A captivating antique bottle coaster. Isn’t funny how something made generations ago still speaks its beauty to us?! The craftsmanship of this beautiful bottle coaster suggests its origin as Old Sheffield Plate from the 1700s. Notably, the exterior boasts exquisite repoussé detailing, a masterful art of hand-hammering a design onto the silver surface. Due to its age and wear, there is lots of copper show through on this. It measures 5.75 inches wide with an opening of 5.25 inches

More Info on Sheffield Plate
In 1743, Thomas Boulsover, a Sheffield cutler, accidentally discovered that silver could be fused onto copper while repairing a knife handle. This led to the creation of Sheffield Plate, a more affordable alternative to silver. Boulsover began producing buttons and other small items, but his business couldn't expand due to funding issues and bad sales agent recommendations. Other manufacturers in Sheffield saw the potential and started their activity around 1762-1765, with Josiah Hancock producing larger items like coffee pots and candlesticks. Different techniques, such as single-lapped, double-lapped, and silver lapped edge, were introduced from 1768 to 1815.

The craft of Sheffield Plate spread from Sheffield to Birmingham and the rest of England, with notable manufacturers including Matthew Boulton, Thomas Bradbury, Samuel Roberts, and Thomas Nicholson. This affordable alternative became immensely popular, allowing the middle class to own items resembling silver, which was previously limited to aristocrats. The popularity of Sheffield Plate continued until the invention of electro-plating in 1838, which eventually led to the decline of Old Sheffield plate production, though some pieces were still made for another 20 years.