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."