This is a repost of an image from the Aurora Historical Society’s Facebook page in 2013.
While we are asked often to assist with placing a value on an item, it is important to note that the Society’s mission is to preserve, collect, and interpret history. We are unable to appraise items.
In 1869, the Aurora Silver Plate Manufacturing Company (formerly the Chicago Silver Plate company) made its home in Aurora.
For the next 50 years, until 1919, the company manufactured silver-plated goods that were sold all over the country.
Foodservice items, like serving dishes and utensils, were the most common, but they also made lamps, card receivers, even trophies.
Richard Haussmann, one of the foremost researchers and collectors of the Aurora Silver Plate, identified the dates of the company markings, shown above. The Aurora Historical Society has one of the largest collections of silver plate around, thanks to Haussmann’s bequest in 2001.
