International Silver Company Marks: How to Identify and Date Them

Products from the merged constituent companies often kept their original maker's name or mark, with the letters 'IS' or the words 'International Silver' added as a secondary mark.

• 1898 formation: International Silver was created from the merger of seventeen silver and silverplate manufacturers from Connecticut, Brooklyn (NY), and Toronto, together representing about 70% of U.S. silverware production at the time.
• 1910 onward: The company promoted its '1847 Rogers Bros.' silverplate flatware line nationally through an advertising character called 'The 1847 Girl.'

• Because International Silver marketed many legacy brand names under one corporate umbrella, pieces stamped with those older names are often mistaken for products of separate, independent companies.

ctexplored.org (Connecticut Explored, a publication of the state's humanities institution), hosted by a Connecticut humanities program, is the primary and most reliable source for this entry. The University of Connecticut Libraries holds an archival finding aid titled 'A Guide to the International Silver Company Records, 1853-1921', but this page returned a verification redirect page on this attempt, so its body text could not be fetched to verify further details.

Turn the piece over and light the mark from a low angle with a lamp or phone torch, which throws the impressed or engraved lines into relief; a printed or painted mark wants soft, even light instead. Fill the frame with the mark, then take a second shot of the whole piece. Do not clean tarnish off silver before photographing; the mark reads better dark. The app matches the mark and shape to the notes above.