The next time you’re attending a social function and the hors d’oeuvres are passed, be certain to notice the prosaic silver plate tray on which they’re offered. It’s not the tray’s value that is significant, but its 250-year pedigree, as it evolved from an object for the nobility and wealthy to a mass-produced commodity available at Wal-Mart. It’s a story of fortunes made and lost, opportunities seized and missed and, finally, a trail of beautiful objects that are still with us.

There is plenty of evidence of silver plating in England, dating as far back as the 14th century. It seems that the cutlers—craftsmen who made knives and associated contrivances—were plating some knives and selling them as solid sterling silver. This nefarious conduct induced the Parliament to respond with laws limiting plating to knights’ spurs and clothing ornaments for the nobility. A very limited market, it would seem. The method used by these clever cutlers, who apparently ignored the restrictive ordinances, was called “close plating.” It was a laborious process, where the precious metal was applied to small objects of iron or steel. Besides those knives, forks, skewers, bridle bits, spurs and sugar tongs were among the most common close-plated articles. These early plated articles are now sought-after collectibles. Since their base metal is usually iron, if you come upon a possible close-plated gadget, place a magnet on it. If there is an attraction, you may have found a treasure.

The next major advance in silver plating didn’t come along until 1743, when a lucky and observant cutler named Thomas Boulsover (pronounced Bow-ser) (1704-1788) accidentally overheated a silver-cased copper knife handle during a repair. When he saw that the two metals fused together permanently, an idea was formed. Later, as he experimented, he was amazed to discover that the two metals, silver and copper, acted as one when they were rolled out under pressure. The plating process that developed is called “fused plating.” The objects formed from fused plate are commonly known in the antiques trade as “Old Sheffield Plate.” The term Sheffield, which refers to the town that became the center for the silver plate industry, is a slight misnomer, since the city of Birmingham also produced large quantities of fused plate.

According to the writings of Charles Dixon, a Sheffield candlestick maker who compiled a record of the silver-plating trade during his lifetime (1776-1852), Boulsover borrowed ₤70 to finance the production of plated buttons and small boxes, which heretofore had been made for the wealthy, mostly of sterling silver. Selling the plated buttons to the burgeoning middle and merchant classes was so profitable that Thomas paid off his loan and accumulated enough capital to test his mettle in other business ventures. Apparently, he did not realize the possibilities of his discovery, since he poorly guarded the secret of his plating process. Boulsover also must have had a restless nature, for he spent much of his time developing an innovative saw blade.

Around 1750, a Sheffield plater named Joseph Hancock applied fused plating to larger pieces, probably learning of the technique from one of Boulsover’s employees. According to the research of Frederick Bradbury, the author of The History of Old Sheffield Plate written in 1912, at Hancock’s death in 1791, his contemporaries often referred to him as the “father of the fused plate industry.” While Thomas Boulsover’s reputation and achievements faded into obscurity, the silver-plating business in England, in competition with the silversmiths, prospered and even boomed.

Among collectors, the pieces made by the Birmingham factory of Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) rank highest. Boulton, technically an engineer, was one of England’s greatest entrepreneurs during his lifetime. He was a friend to Josiah Wedgwood, Benjamin Franklin and many of his nation’s best scientific minds. In partnership with James Watt, he contributed to the invention of the steam engine. Due to his efforts, Birmingham and Sheffield were awarded assay offices, encouraging the regional production of sterling silver wares. The fused plate produced by Boulton’s Soho Works represents the best styling of the times. The factory, completed in 1764, was capable of employing 1,000 hands, turning out prodigious quantities of tea urns, candlesticks, boxes and epergnes, as well as the more mundane buttons, buckles and medals. The factory was a major tourist attraction for visitors to the region. Look for Boulton’s stamped double-sunburst marks; but beware that some lesser pieces have been fraudulently stamped.

By the 1840s, a major innovation swept through the silver-plating industry. The process of electroplating, which was known in the early part of the century, was commercially developed. This process, where silver was deposited on base metals by electrolysis, allowed parts of an object to be assembled in advance of silver plating, often using different metals, which were then concealed. The new method was a major labor saver and thus very profitable. And as often happens with advances in technology, the established fused platers were skeptical and slow to adapt. Meanwhile, two cousins from Birmingham, George Richard and Henry Elkington, acquired every patent available for electroplating, placing their competitors at a great disadvantage. The public enthusiastically accepted their interesting naturalistic designs, made possible by the new process. Gradually the old-time platers accepted the Elkingtons’ ideas. But Stephen Helliwell, in Understanding Antique Silver Plate (Antique Collector’s Club), relates that many waited too long, and by the 1850s only one third of the well-known Sheffield platers survived. Electroplating, that 19th century technology, with some tweaking, is still in use today.

The current strong interest in the earlier forms of silver plate, particularly the fused Old Sheffield Plate, has led some antiques dealers to call almost any plated article “Sheffield.” Since it’s not easy for an untrained eye to discern the fused plate from the electroplate, buyers should ask pointed questions of antiques dealers, or better yet, read Stephen Helliwell’s above-mentioned book for advice. But, no matter what the form of plating, let the beauty and condition of an object speak for itself and exercise its appeal upon your senses. And of course, before you snatch the party’s last crab cake from that humble plated tray, give a grateful thought to Thomas Boulsover, Matthew Boulton and the Elkingtons.