The Book of Old Silver: English, American, Foreign

by Seymour B. Wyler

A history and guide to Old Silver and Old Sheffield Plate, with the most comprehensive table of hallmarks ever published in one book.

Here is the fascinating story of the great silversmiths and their art. All the factors of interest to the amateur, collector or connoisseur of Old Silver and Old Sheffield Plate are authoritatively covered: The development of design in tea services, flatware, candlesticks, trays, cups. Values and scarcity. Where to buy. How to collect. How to detect frauds. Reproductions. And most important, this book permits the exact and indisputable identification of Old Silver by means of the Hallmark tables. These are conveniently and simply arranged so that anyone may trace in a few moments any hallmarked piece of silver of American, English, Sheffield, French, German or other European origin.The splendid pictures are from photographs of authentic pieces from the foremost dealers in Antique Silver.

Mr. Seymour B. Wyler, himself a well-known New York dealer, is regarded both in this country and abroad as an authority.

"What the Kovels don't know about antiques," says House Beautiful, "isn't worth knowing."

416 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 1937

Reviews

[Claire Binkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised by the wealth of knowledge available in this resource. It has a strong Western influence, making you feel as if maybe there is not anything of note anywhere else, except I know there is, I could have sworn I was over there just a few years ago...

ETA: It appealed very much to the appraiser instinct in me that evaluates the worth of, for example, Pokémon cards, video games and manga which I keep close in pertinent places nearby. It feels like it is a good resource to have if you are about to go on, say, the Antique Road Show or if you are going to auction off an estate, to see what kind of fee certain items can fetch.

[Michael Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This books seems to be recommended everywhere for people who want to understand silverware. I was looking to understand the use of silver in common objects for daily use, such as fountain pens, so perhaps I'm not the target audience.

The first third book itself gives a good summary of silver and its uses in eating, table, and more generally home wares, then covers regional aspects regarding the UK, America (very briefly), and Europe (a bit).

The last two thirds are a compendium of marks and hallmarks, which are essential in identifying silver pieces - who made them, and when and where assayed for silver content. However good this is as a source book, as expected there are currently much better sources on the Internet - easier to search and zoom into.

Good time-travel piece, but otherwise without advantages over easily accessible, public information.

[Frederic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like Old Silver and Old Sheffield Plate, this is an early book for silver collectors that frankly is not very useful anymore except for one thing: the tables of UK hallmarks and makers' marks -- which are copied from the earlier English Goldsmiths and Their Marks: A History of the Goldsmiths and Plate Workers of England, Scotland, and Ireland, so if you have that there's no need for this. As with Okie, there's outdated historical text if you're so inclined, and severely limited information on American and Continental marks (so limited and partial and dated as to be useless), but this is a book that has really outlived its utility.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has to be one of the most used reference books in the realm of silver collecting and study. Easy to use and exhaustive in contents- perfect for accurate and insightful research

[Renee Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference book for all silver identification.