Yes, another "bright shiny thing" that we have had passed to us from extended family ... "would you mind advertising this to see if anyone can make use of it?" type of thing - we do that for family but do not trade in these things ...
HISTORY
By nature, I do not just accept things as they appear but have a deep interest in the history behind most of the things we or I have had pass through our hands ... And so it is with yet another Australian Silver plating company of some historical significance, particularly here in NSW.
This manufacturer began operations in 1925 under the company name of Silverbrite Electroplating Co. at 49-51 Goold Street, Chippendale.
Reference: TROVE, NLA 2nd June 1932 newspaper advertisement
They used the trade name, Perfection for their products and their initial product range focused on 3 & 4 piece tea sets using Silver electroplated finishes. Their philosophy was to provide high quality products at the lowest possible prices and amongst their clients of the day were the major department stores, Mark Foyes and the jewellers Prouds.
This was their standard "Hallmark" of the day
In subsequent years of expansion, the company moved to 6-8 Eveleigh Street, Redfern (just around the corner from Chippendale) and also underwent a company change of name to Perfection Plate Co. Ltd
Here is an extract from the City Of Sydney Archives, dated 1945, which relates to some building alterations for the company at 6-8 Eveleigh Street.
In 1960, the company Perfection Plate Co. Ltd was acquired by the jewellery firm Angus & Coote but around ten years later, former employees of the company purchased it back from Angus & Coote. To this day it appears the company is at least still registered with the NSW Government as active although I cannot find any reliable information about the continuation of Australian manufacturing.
This teapot is from the 'early days' when the company was Silverbrite Electroplating and is very fashioned in the 1930's 'Art Deco' styling with the ribbed sides, the flat nose spout and that lovely geometrical Black Bakelite handle - no modern plastics here!
I wanted to make absolutely sure this was bakelite and undertook the "rub" test, then sniffed the handle!
The characteristic Yellow-Brown comes of with rubbing (see one of the main photographs) and Ah ... don't you love the smell of Formaldehyde in the morning! 100% bakelite here ...
PERFECTION - Teapot With Hinged Lid
Perfection was the tradename
Made by Silverbrite Electroplating Company
Made in Sydney, Australia
Circa 1930's period
The makers identification is on the underside, stamped into the base and is clearly visible.
Silverplate (E.P.N.S) Grade A1
Flat base design i.e without feet
Overall shape is obviously that of a "squat" teapot
Holds 4x standard cups of tea (I checked!)
Hinged lid
While researching this teapot, I read that Silverbrite used Silver soldering for the joins and I can confirm this is the case with the teapot.
Also noticeable was the lack of any screws for the lid knob or the handle. I have no idea how the lid knob is held in place but it certainly wouldn't unscrew and on the underside there is no indication of what could be holding it to the lid, perhaps it has been Silver soldered but if so then it has been done extremely well as it does not look like a solder join at all.
The bakelite handle has a short 'hollow, Silver plated tube' top and bottom, the handle has been inserted into these tubes and then a 'pin like' rivet keeps everything in place.
DIMENSIONS:
Stands 120mm (almost 5") high, including the top ornate lid handle
160mm diameter body (at the widest point)
True "bottom feeding" teapot spout with filter holes inside, being close to but not quite at the bottom, of the bowl (to catch those renegade tea leaves, although a strainer is a good idea to use at the same time - ever tried fishing out those tea leaves floating in your cup?)
Large, easy to hold handle AND it does not heat up when the pot is full of hot tea!
WEIGHT: 392g (without water/tea inside!)
This is actually quite light for a teapot, I believe the base metal used is Nickel and not Copper otherwise I would expect considerably more weight in the teapot.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
After almost 100 years since it's creation, it is unrealistic to expect the teapot to be like it's namesake ... Perfection! However I was somewhat taken aback by just how good the teapot looks after a good clean up ... Oh yes, I has had quite some time spent on making it look presentable because when it was handed to me it looked as though no-one had given it a rub for many many years.
Some people seem to cherish that Silver patina ... sorry but my wife and I do not! We envisage new owners actually using this teapot and it would just be so crass to offer cups of tea in a dirty looking teapot, in our view, visitors may well think we never washed the dishes!
While cleaning the heavy patina I did NOT notice any significant breakdown of the Silver plating ... amazing! No splotches of dark Grey where the plating has failed or worn away.
As you can see in the photographs, this teapot is truly one of those "Oh you bright shiny thing you!" type of teapot and many people simply wouldn't believe it was almost 100 years old - Granny doesn't look like that!
I looked very carefully for dents or heavy scratches - nothing to speak of! Around the lid and lip area I saw perhaps TWO tiny little dents, and I mean tiny.
Even the lid hinge is nice and tight and does not wobble from side to side.
I can see some light scuff marks to the underside of the teapot (where the stamping is located) but yet again, nothing to write home about in my view.
Looking inside, when I first received the teapot, all I could see was Black (even with the lights on!) It was dark in there and felt a little rough to the finger.
I filled the teapot with BiCarb Of Soda and left it soaking for around 10 hours, this process was repeated twice. After the soaking, the water inside indeed came out VERY BLACK, I guess this was a build up of Tannin from the tea. After the second process, the water colour had changed to a light Orange so the amount of deposits inside was greatly reduced.
Inside the teapot after the Bicarb treatment ... it now feels smooth on the inside base to the touch and has a slight Orange-Red colouring, looks a bit like Copper but as I say above, I do not believe this to be Copper as the teapot is too light.
NO damaged metal at all and no failed or failing joins (where Silver solder has been applied) such as where the spout meets the teapot body or the lid hinge soldering.
Bakelite material is very strong but can be brittle, often a crack can be catastrophic - there are NO cracks, chips or slivers missing from this handle, very nice strong condition and the handle does not move from side to side!
After all the loving care and cleaning, I washed the teapot thoroughly in soap & water, rinsed well and yes (wait for it!) ... I made a cuppa to check that the tea taste wasn't tainted! Nothing worse than a cuppa with Bicarb in it!
Nice cuppa and no nasty tastes at all.
As I always do ... after the teapot was completely dry, I placed it within a sealed clear plastic packaging so that the brilliant Silver glistening remains for as long as possible - sealing like this greatly reduces the speed of the Silver plate tarnishing.
NO sugar bowl or creamer jug has (as yet) been passed to me but just by itself, when sitting on the breakfast table, this teapot oozes early Sydney craftsmanship and it is certainly a testament to the company motto of the day "High Quality product at the lowest possible price"
SPECIAL NOTE: We discount the cost of shipping anywhere around Australia ... this means that if this teapot is selected in the checkout area, the cost of standard post will show as A$9 only ... Keep in mind, if you also added other items, then shipping could end up being FREE ... we offer FREE SHIPPING anywhere around Australia when orders exceed A$75 in value
