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The Vintage pattern of silver-plated flatware was introduced by International Silver Co. in 1904 and continuously produced until about 1918, with new pieces being added to the line from time to time. This pattern has remained very popular with collectors in the years since then.

The Vintage design features grapes (a popular design element since the ancient Greeks), while the great variety of pieces made gives collectors plenty to look for.. How many pieces were made in this pattern? The usual answer is "over 100," but the actual number is very difficult to establish.

International Silver promoted the Vintage pattern heavily, as seen in this 1910 ad in Cosmopolitan. The large spoon is a berry spoon.

Among the grape patterns, Vintage is easily recognized by the overall shape of the handle -somewhat like a violin. (V is for violin and V is for Vintage, if you need an aid for your memory.) La Vigne and La Concorde, on the other hand, have handle shapes in which the end of the handle forms a gentle gothic arch. The grapes are clustered differently in those two patterns, but the overall handle shapes are very similar.

The Moselle pattern also has a violin shape, somewhat similar to Vintage. Moselle has one grape cluster at the end of the handle, while Vintage has two, one on either side. There are other differences in the overall look of the patterns. A reliable way to distinguish them is to examine the mark on the back of the piece. Moselle is marked with the World Brand mark, a globe resting on a knife, fork, an spoon, while Vintage is marked "1847 Rogers Bros."

International sold Vintage under its 1847 Rogers Bros. mark, the mark it used for its highest quality flatware. Organized a few years before, in 1898, International Silver was formed by the merger of many smaller Connecticut companies, including Meriden Britannia Co., Rogers & Bros., and Wm. Rogers Manufacturing Co. International was able to use the 1847 Rogers Bros. mark because this mark had been the property of Meriden Britannia.

The 1847 Rogers Bros. mark had been used by Meriden Britannia from the time of its formation in 1862. Meriden Britannia acquired the right to it from the original Rogers brothers, who started America's first successful silver-plating operation in Hartford, Conn., in 1847. The 1847 Rogers Bros. mark was usually accompanied by a Meriden Britannia imprint within a tiny circle. This imprint continued to be used even after Meriden Britannia was absorbed by International Silver.

The Vintage pattern design, for which International received a design patent on Aug. 2, 1904, shows the complex look we have come to call "Victorian," along with a realism of detail which was very much in the taste of the times. Grapes are clustered at three locations on the handle: two clusters at the end, one cluster in the center, and an additional cluster just above the bowl of the piece. The grape clusters include carefully modeled leaves and tendrils. Many serving pieces, as well as some of the place pieces, display additional clusters of grapes, leaves and tendrils in the bowls of spoons or on the blades of knives and servers.

Although I am not a Vintage collector, I am very interested in documenting old silver-plate patterns. Recently I decided to test the proposition that at least 100 different pieces were made in Vintage by documenting all the pieces made. At present, I can document 77 pieces, or 96 pieces or 110 pieces, depending on how the pieces are counted.

• Pieces can be counted according to function, that is, what they were used for. If the three variations of a dinner fork, for example, equal one piece, I can document 77 pieces.

• Pieces can be counted in accordance with variations in form, for example, a solid-handle dinner knife and a hollow-handle dinner knife are different pieces. If I include only those variations I have seen or can find illustrated in reference material, I can document 97 pieces.

• If I count the same way, but also include pieces other people may have seen, I can document 110 pieces.

I have developed a list of all the flatware pieces in Vintage for which I can find evidence by purpose. For simplicity, I have standardized names of the pieces. Names vary greatly in different sources. In fact, International did not always call the same piece by the same name. When the same piece form had two clearly different functions, however, it is listed for each function. For example, the 5 O'clock Teaspoon, the Youth Spoon and the Egg Spoon were separately illustrated in catalogs and clearly have different functions, but their forms appear to be identical.

Note: The list referred to is not included here. I updated it and include it  in my 
book The Vintage Pattern of Silverplated Flatware. 

Some pieces were made in both a solid-handle style and a hollow-handle style. When the handle is solid, the entire flatware piece is made from one piece of metal. When the handle is hollow, the piece is composed of a handle and an insert - the fork tines or the knife blade. The listing shows the handle styles identified. In a few cases, one style has been positively identified but the other one is questionable.

The list also shows the overall length of those pieces for which I could find that information. Sometimes two pieces with the same shape, function and handle style have other variations in size or design. For example, bouillon spoons were made in two lengths, hollow-handle bread knives were offered in more than one blade style and salad forks display more than one tine design.

Generally a hollow-handle piece is longer overall than a solid-handle piece. If more lengths are shown than the number of handle styles - for example, see fruit knives on the list printed on the back page - then that piece in a particular handle style was made in more than one length.

When I have been able to examine a piece myself, I have measured its overall length by standing a ruler and the piece side by side on a table and taking the maximum dimension. When measuring a ladle, I have also measured the handle, the best basis for evaluating ladle sizes. If you compare your own pieces of Vintage with my measurements, expect to find variations of as much as one-quarter inch. With use; tines wear down and pieces bend slightly. The size variation is greatest in hollow-handle style pieces. Over the years of production, the manufacturer used a variety of inserts, resulting in differences in overall length.

Also, as a matter of interest to collectors, I have also included a, listing of pieces commonly sold together as sets. In addition to these standard sets, pieces were often combined in fancy boxes to serve as gifts for weddings and anniversaries. Sometimes these presentation sets of fruit knives, fruit spoons or butter server and sugar spoon combinations can still be found in their original silk-lined boxes.

Collectors should also note that many serving pieces, like berry spoons and cold meat forks, were offered by International with an optional gold wash in the bowl. Such a gold wash protected the silver from the chemical effects of foods like vinegar and salt, as well as giving the piece a richer look.

Silver advertisers, then as now, played on the social insecurity of their customers. The presentation set shown here includes a Vintage cream lade, a butter knife and a sugar spoon. Note the Meriden Britannia trademark in the lower righthand corner. The ad is from a 1905 Munsey's Magazine.

Some mysteries remain. My best research tool has been a privately printed book, Collectors Handbook for Grape Nuts, by Suzie MacLachlan (1971). MacLachlan photographed every piece of Vintage she could find, reported the length of the pieces and showed catalog excerpts for some pieces she could not locate. When I have not been able to measure a piece myself, I have used her measurements.

MacLachlan also mentions additional pieces which other dealers and collectors told her they had seen. A few of these missing pieces turned up in Vintage catalog pages shown in The Elegance of Old Silverplate and Some Personalities by Edmund R Hogan (Schiffer Publishing,. 1980). Hogan also lists some pieces which he does not show. He says that ultimately International produced 101 different Vintage pieces, but does not explain how he counted them. The remaining mystery pieces from both sources appear at the end of my list.

In addition, John Kingston of Syracuse, N.Y., a silver dealer and longtime Vintage collector has allowed me to examine, measure and photograph his collection. In years of collecting, he has never- seen some of the pieces illustrated in the MacLachlan book.

The search continues. I hope to find additional reference material and to keep looking for those rarely-seen pieces. In the meantime, readers of AntiqueWeek may have information to share about the great variety of pieces made in the ever-popular Vintage pattern.

Prices for silver-plated flatware can be found in general price guides and in specialty guides which just deal with silver and silver plate. Check under both a flatware listing and silver plate when looking for prices.

The following prices for pieces of flatware in the Vintage pattern were listed in Schroeder's Antiques Price Guide, 13th edition (Collector Books, 1995).

• cold meat fork, $40

• demitasse cream ladle, $30

• fruit spoon, $15

• gravy ladle, $20

• oyster ladle, $85

• serving fork, $35

• twisted butter knife, $13

Collectors may also be interested in the following books:

Collectors Handbook for Grape Nuts by Suzie MacLachlan, privately printed, 1971. Soft cover, 133 pages. Documentation of many pieces for the grape patterns in silver plate. Black and white photographs, measurements. Out of print and 'worth looking for.

The Elegance of Old Silverplate and Some Personalities by Edmund P Hogan, Schiffer Publishing, 1980. Hardbound, 189 pages. Descriptions of many tablewares such as napkin rings, butter dishes, pickle casters and a special section on the Vintage flatware pattern. Many black and white photographs, reproductions of old catalog pages.

Silverplated Flatware: An Identification and Value Guide by Tere Hagan, 4th edition, Collector Books, 1990. Large format paperback, 372 pages. Pattern identification with clear line drawings of the patterns and very good indexes for marks and manufacturers.

Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers by Dorothy Rainwater, 3rd edition, Schiffer Publishing, 1986. Softcover, 266 pages. Descriptive entries for 1,400 American manufacturers of coin and sterling silver, as well as silver plate. Marks shown. Black and white photographs, glossary, bibliography.

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