Old silver item

[Duke]

What is this it says from top to bottom LETTER POST 4 OZ..1D
Each add
2 oz 1/2 d
PARCEL POST 1 “backwards j” B 3D
2,, 4D
Each add
1D up
11 something
Book post
Oz or part 1/2D
foreign post
1/2oz 2 1/2D
Books
2oz 1/2 D

 

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[Red-Coat]

Those are the postal rates applicable in Britain from 22nd June 1897 to 31st October 1915. Your pictures won't zoom in enough to see the actual date and maker's marks. I'm not aware of our Post Office service having produced anything like this on an official basis but I suppose it's possible. More likely someone heavily involved in posting items produced it as a gimmick or for the benefit of their employees. I would guess it might be intended to serve as a letter opener, but that's no more than a guess.

 

[A2coins]

Thats an amazing ID

 

[ARC]

Thats an amazing ID

What ID ? ? ?

It has not been identified yet.

 

[Red-Coat]

What ID ? ? ?

It has not been identified yet.

Quite right. All I know is that its some kind of aide-memoire for someone who needs to know how much it cost to post a letter in those times. Perhaps a jeweller sold them in the same kind of way that you can buy silver bookmarks and other items imprinted with perpetual calendars and the like.

I should have added (for those that don't know) that '1D' was the way we expressed a penny in the days before we had decimal currency (the D being a historical link to the Roman Denarius). So, the item says that it costs a penny to post a letter up to 4 ounces in weight and then an additional halfpenny for each further 2 ounces.

 

[ARC]

I was even thinking it may be from a portable writing desk...

 

[Duke]

The hallmarks on the back are B&C a lion and a Christian cross

 

[Duke]

Basically that’s what I thought it was but You’re saying it’s silver because someone was nostalgic

 

[Duke]

Also it’s more crudely marked H.M. On back

 

[EQ8]

Wouldn't Britain have used grams instead of ounces??

 

[Duke]

Those are British hallmarks and could be the official version of what you tbought

 

[Duke]

But there is no date on this

 

[Red-Coat]

Wouldn't Britain have used grams instead of ounces??

Absolutely not. Our move to metric SI units was triggered by joining the EEC in 1973.

 

[Red-Coat]

The hallmarks on the back are B&C a lion and a Christian cross

Could we please see a close-up of the actual marks? They may be hallmarks (which will include a date letter) or silver plate marks (which may not, or may be using a system specific to the manufacturer). You already have a moderately narrow date range based on the postal rates.

 

[ARC]

Could we please see a close-up of the actual marks? They may be hallmarks (which will include a date letter) or silver plate marks (which may not, or may be using a system specific to the manufacturer). You already have a moderately narrow date range based on the postal rates.

Of course they are hallmarks.

Its silver.

 

[Duke]

 

[Duke]

These are probly the best my phone will do

 

[Duke]

It was all folded up when I dug I wish a waited to hit it with my torch before I bent it back but i though was another piece of copper flashing that I was finding

 

[Duke]

H.M / B&C / Lion / Cross, that’s it for hallmarks on the back

 

[ARC]

Might have been mounted on an old postal scale... and when rates no longer applied it was removed and tossed.