THE TANGLED WEB OF MYOTTS, RODD, MCPHERSONS & the name "Grosvenor"
Grosvenor was a brand name used by Myotts Ltd and they were an Australian manufacturer and supplier of Silver Plate tablewares until around the early 1990's, at which time the company McPherson's Ltd acquired the brand names Grosvenor AND Rodd.
Right back in the early 1900's, Rodd's (George & Ernest) of Melbourne were directly competing in the silver plate market with Myott's Ltd who used the tradename Grosvenor. In 1960's the two companies merged, becoming Myott Rodd (Australia) Ltd. So at this time there was both Grosvenor & Rodd in the Australian marketplace. Fast forward 30 years and McPherson's steps in and acquires both brandnames. McPhersons was no youngster on the block, having been formed by Thomas McPherson (Scottish immigrant) back in 1852! Their mission in life was to manufacture cutlery and flatware and later, Silverware and Plated Ware. They grew rapidly and in 1913 they had 900+ employees, their expansion being primarily through market acquistions.
Both Rodd & Grosvenor were very well known Australian silver plate manufacturers 50+ years ago!
MYOTT RODD Afternoon Teaspoon Set
Brand name: Grosvenor
Circa 1960's ~ 1970's
Silverplate (EPNS)
Plate Grade: A1
This grading refers to the number of ounces of pure Silver used in the plating and A1 is 2 ounces per gross of teaspoons. This is high quality (many lesser manufacturers will not even state the grade of their Silver Plating) but the "top of the line' plating is referred to as AA. Keep in mind that grading is not the 'be all and end all' of a silver plate quality, how it has been applied during the electrolysis process is equally important. These Grosvenor spoons are a very high quality regardless of the A1 grading.
6x silver plate teaspoons
1x silver plate sugarspoon
Each spoon is heavily stamped on the underside handle
EPNS A1
There is no name etched or stamped on any of the spoons, the only way of telling it is a Grosvenor set is the label on the satin bed.
UNBOXED
These were originally in a very well presented, hinged wooden decorative box and they were often given as gifts on special occasions, such as weddings, birthdays etc...
However the box was stored very poorly and in fact when I got the box out from under the house, it fell apart! A lovely presentation box no more! I managed to save the satin 'bed' inside the box and this is what you can see in the photographs.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Although the box was substantially damaged (and discarded), the spoons look to be unused. Cleaned with the good old Baking Soda/Aluminium technique and they have come up looking like new, I doubt they have ever seen a teacup!
Clean with a high lustre
NO scratching or blemishes on any part of any spoon
NO bending or other physical damage
The photographs show the spoons sitting on the original satin bed which was inside the presentation box. This is how they will be supplied, sealed in cello-wrap (NOT shrink wrap which can affect the silver) to protect the silver plate from the environment as much as possible.
