Silver Deposit

[Squirrel322]

I dug this buckle and it’s marked “silver deposit”. I gather it’s a type of plating but the only information I can find references a technique of applying silver to glass and ceramic.

Is anyone familiar with metal items stamped silver deposit? Any information is welcome!

 

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[Red-Coat]

That’s the trademark for the Hickok Manufacturing Company of Rochester, NY. Active from around 1900 until the formation of Hickok-Matthews by a merger in the 1930s. They went from humble beginnings to become the worlds largest manufacturer of men’s belts. Although they did produce buckles in Sterling, “Silver Deposit” is just a fancy way of saying “Plated”.

 

[trdking]

I believe it says " silver Depose') French word for Deposit and written in french to confuse the American market into thinking its silver. Depose also means Registered For trade marks With the word silver in front of it it means Deposit or plated

 

[Red-Coat]

I would be pretty sure it’s actually “deposit” not “déposée”. Here’s another Hickok item where you can see the word more clearly.



In this case they’re claiming it’s a Sterling deposit which I think is probably a terminological inexactitude, cynically intended to improve its market desirability. It’s only possible to plate with Sterling silver by hot-rolling sheets of metal together. Otherwise the plating will be in pure silver by an electroplate process, which I think is what this actually is.

In later years as the American ‘silver’ market became better policed, Hickok used all kinds of fanciful terms to try and distance their plated items from competitors. There are later buckles marked “Masterplate” and “Duro-Plate” among other terms. As I said, they did also make Sterling items but they’re simply marked as such. They also made in gold fill.