Old Sheffield Plate is the term for pieces of silverware created by fusing a thin sheet of copper with an even thinner sheet of silver to create layered sheets which were then rolled or otherwise crafted to create silverware and other silver pieces. This process was discovered around 1800 and was especially popular up to the early part of the 19th century, before electroplating was invented.
Created mostly to be an affordable substitute for actual silverware, this form of layered, silver plate was used to create many of the pieces normally crafted from actual silver.
A great many products were manufactured in and around the area of Sheffield and this gave rise to the term, Old Sheffield Plate. Many of the pieces were hollow and were sometimes marked, but the mark of "Sheffield" was never used. Old Sheffield Plate is not necessarily from Sheffield, and plates from Sheffield are not necessarily made from Old Sheffield Plate.
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The invention and widespread use of electroplating quickly put an end to the practice of fusing metal sheets together to create silver plate. Electroplating was a much faster, cleaner and cheaper method for producing the same look in silverware, which made the production of Sheffield plate obsolete. Because of this, Old Sheffield Plate is very collectable.
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