ANTIQUE SILVER PLATED/PAINTED SYRUP PITCHER MERIDEN BRITANNIA PAT. JULY 1, 1873

Description

This syrup pitcher is dated 1873 (with a patent date of 1865). From similar listings, I think it likely it was originally silver plated and probably still is under a layer of silver paint. It survived a house fire in rural Kentucky prior to the 1950s and was painted silver (suspect it had been tarnished in the fire). It survived a second house fire in 2019, but that's less dramatic than it sounds as it was in packed away storage in the basement and the house fire was upstairs and put out before it reached the storage area. Given that I can not guarantee there is no lead in the paint, we are selling this purely as an antique and decorative piece. (It may be possible to remove the paint, but I'd like to leave that to a more skilled restorer.)