Jewelry Pearls

In the early 15th century, solid silver was owned and used mainly by the nobility and people of great wealth, and did not come within the reach of the middle class family. All this was changed in 1742 when Thomas Boulsover, a cutler working in Sheffield, England, accidentally fused silver onto copper while repairing a broken knifeblade, Boulsover had unknowingly revolutionized the silver trade when he discovered that these two metals, silver and copper, became inseparable when heated. Recognizing the commercial value of his discovery, Boulsover began making articles that had the appearance of solid silver, yet were stronger and cheaper to produce. Now people of modest means could have replicas of solid silver at a fraction of the cost.

By the end of the 18th century, Sheffield silver was being made in quantity and became a leading industry in Britain and the town of Sheffield a manufacturing center of great importance.

In 1838, the Russians succeeded in creating a very fine method of electroplating silver; consequently, the older and slower process of Sheffield plating, discovered by Boulsover, died out.

Really old Sheffield articles are beautiful and extremely valuable.

If you own any real Sheffield and the pink of the copper begins to show through the silverplate, do not have the piece resilvered. Resilvering would be immediately apparent to a connoisseur and ruin the value of the piece.

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