Meriden - Table service - Silverplated, Glass - Caviar Tray

Rare late-19th-century silver-plated caviar server made by Merdiden, a famous American silverplate manufacturer.

The caviar server is extremely refined, with fine and precious detailing. A special mention inside the tray, embossed with a mythic scene of a putto amid the vegetation. The lid of the tray is also particularly beautiful, with flowers embossed and chased.

Excellent overall condition, defects and shortcomings in the spoon holder. Measurements: 20x18x16 cm.

The beginnings of the silver-plated goods industry date back to 1847 and the efforts of the Rogers brothers who, in their small shop in Hartford, developed the electroplating process.
But the business traces its origins back to 1808, with the establishment in Meriden of a small factory for the production of pewter or Britannia ware.
Subsequently, it was Britannia's producers' foresight that transformed the Rogers brothers' efforts into a success. The union of the Hartford experimenters' mechanical genius and the Britannia producers' entrepreneurial drive marked the definitive beginning of silverware production as a commercial enterprise.
The Rogers brothers had achieved success in their business, but they were hampered by a lack of capital and by not having a qualified organization to market their product.
In 1852 six or seven small establishments for Britannia ware in the town of Meriden were organized by Horace C. and Dennis C. Wilcox at the Meriden Britannia Co., which supplied Britannia metal, Albata, and German silver, both plated and unplated, to many other companies.
An agreement was reached whereby the genius and skill of the Rogers joined the initiative and the entrepreneurial capacity of the Meriden company, and the latter began producing items that would later be described in the Meriden Britannia Co. catalog, in 1867, as being able to offer 'all the advantages of silver in terms of durability and beauty at one-fifth the cost'.
In 1862 the Meriden Britannia Company acquired the tableware division, along with the tools and dies, of Rogers Brothers Mfg Co (which incorporated Rogers, Smith & Co).
The production of the “1847 Rogers Bros” line continued under the direction of William Rogers, and in 1865 the plating department was transferred from New Haven to Meriden and merged with Meriden Britannia Co in 1866.
La Meriden Britannia Company adopted in its cutlery production the “sectional plating” based on a patent of 1868 obtained by Marshall L. Forbes. The process consisted of depositing an extra amount of silver on the parts of spoons and forks subjected to greater wear. The Meriden Britannia Co described its spoons and forks as “... plated with a layer three times thicker in the three points most exposed to wear ... thereby increasing their durability ...”.
In 1869, Meriden Britannia Co. acquired the interests of Rogers Smith & Co, which, however, continued to operate in New Haven until 1877, when it was moved to Meriden and merged with Meriden Britannia Co. Rogers, Smith & Co ceased to exist as a separate entity and was used as a trademark of Meriden Brit.
In 1894 Meriden Britannia Co. began producing Forbes Silver Co.'s tableware, which has always enjoyed great success and has become a very broad line.
In 1895, Meriden Britannia Co. purchased Wilcox & Evertsen of New York, initiating the production of a quality line of sterling silver items. This production was soon moved to Meriden and continued even after the company became part of the International Silver Company.
In 1898, the Meriden Britannia Company ceased to exist as an independent entity and became part of the International Silver Company.
By 1902 there were active retail outlets in New York (opened in 1856 at 90 John St. and later at 45 Beekman St. The store was from 1864 to 1873 at 199 Broadway and later at No. 550 Broadway), Meriden, San Francisco (opened in 1867 at 134 Sutter Street and later at 150 Post St.), Chicago (opened in 1878 at 154 State Street) and London (with the addition of Hamilton, Ont. and Paris cited in an advertisement from 1891).
In 1924 the International Silver Company formed the International Silver Company of Canada, Ltd., with its Canadian subsidiaries Meriden Britannia Co Ltd (Hamilton, Ontario), Standard Silver Co of Toronto Ltd (Toronto, Ontario), and William Rogers Manufacturing Company Ltd (Niagara Falls, Ontario).

Source: https://www.silvercollection.it/meridenbritanniaco.html