The Chicago Antiques Guide Blog
Meriden Britannia Co. Goblet
Posted Friday, May 19 by Brian •
I was at a family reunion over the weekend and my grandmother gave my brother and I each a Goblet from her silver collection. It has "Meriden B. Company" with a shield emblem that has what appears to be a balance in the center and the number "1518" stamped below the emblem. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated, e.g. age, approximate value, etc. I've attached a picture for your reference. Thank you so much, David
Your Goblet was made by the Meriden Britannia Company, founded in 1852 in Meriden, Conn. The company initially made products using a metal alloy called Britannia metal to approximate the appearance of pewter. They quickly added silverplated products and items made from German Silver, also known as nickel silver.
The Meriden Britannia Co. became part of International Silver in 1898, but some of their marks were used into the 1930's. They stopped marking their holloware items "quadruple plate" in 1896. Designs like the one on your goblet became popular in the 1880's, as part of the Aesthetic Movement. I could not determine when they stopped making this type of design. By the way, the "1518" would have been Meriden's reference number for this pattern. Armed with all of these disparate facts, we are tempted to suggest that your goblet was made between 1896 and 1898. But Meriden was not very consistant with the use of their marks. So it would be safer to say it is likely from 1880 to 1900, when more contemporary styles prevailed.
As to value, goblets like yours tend to sell in the $25-$50 range depending on condition and design. Remember that Britannia metal, nickel silver, German Silver, and all of the generic alloys referred to as white metals, have no silver in them. They may or may not have a thin silver plating on them. So there is little or no intrinsic value base on silver content, as would be the case with sterling silver (92.5% pure silver) or coin silver (90% pure silver).
