1847 Rogers Bros: what is it actually worth?
The 1847 is the year the company behind the name was founded. It is not the year your spoons were made, and it is not a silver mark. Everything under the name is silver plate, and it is worth a flat published rate on weight: $10.50/lb for plated flatware, $7.50/lb for plated holloware and $3.50/lb for plated knives.
Why the number fools almost everyone
It happens the same way every time. A chest comes out of a sideboard after a death or a move, somebody turns a fork over, and there it is: 1847 Rogers Bros. A date, stamped on silver-coloured cutlery. The mind does the rest. If it was made in 1847 it is antique, and if it is antique it must be worth something serious.
None of that follows. The 1847 is a founding date the company printed on its goods as a badge, in the ordinary way a brand puts "est." on a label. Flatware carrying it was made across a very long stretch of the 20th century, and a great deal of it came out of factories within living memory. The number tells you nothing about the age of the piece in your hand.
It also tells you nothing about silver content, because it is not a silver standard. The numbers that do mean solid silver are 925, 900, 800, 830, 835 and 958, and they are fineness figures, not years. A 4-digit year cannot be one of them.
This is the trap that catches almost everyone, and it catches artificial intelligence too. Ask a chatbot to read a photo of your mark and it will often do a decent job, but it goes wrong in a particular way: it sees a date like 1847, or the word sterling sitting inside a longer stamp, and calls a plated fork solid. Treat any confident answer the way you would treat a confident stranger. The thing that is not guessing is an XRF analyser, and every solid piece that reaches us goes under one, on camera.
The 1-line version: 1847 Rogers Bros is plate. Good plate, often heavy, often beautifully made, and plate. That does not make it worthless. It makes it worth a flat rate on weight rather than a price per gram of silver.
Which Rogers mark is on your piece
There is not 1 Rogers. There is a whole family of Rogers names, and Canadian drawers hold an enormous share of it. The marks below all mean the same thing. Find yours in the first column.
| The mark | Where you see it | What it means | Solid silver? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1847 Rogers Bros. | On the back of a flatware handle, near the stem, usually with a pattern name beside or under it. | A founding date used as a brand. Not a year of manufacture and not a silver standard. | No. Plate. |
| Wm Rogers, Wm Rogers & Son | Often with a small eagle and a star sitting either side of the name. | A separate Rogers line. The eagle and the star are decoration, not assay marks. | No. Plate. |
| Wm A Rogers | On flatware and on holloware such as trays and bowls. | Another line under the same family name. | No. Plate. |
| Rogers & Bro., Rogers Bros. | With or without the 1847 in front of it. | The same story with the date left off. | No. Plate. |
| Rogers Cutlery Co. | Usually on knives, sometimes on carving sets. | Same family, and knives are the lowest-paying shape we take. | No. Plate. |
| I S or International Silver Co. beside a Rogers name | On later flatware, struck after or under the Rogers name. | Another company name on the same plated lines. It is not a silver mark. | No. Plate. |
| A Rogers name with A1, XII, triple or quadruple | Struck beside the name, sometimes with the word plate. | A maker's own grade for how thickly the silver was laid on. There was never a legal standard behind the letters. The heavier grades genuinely carry more silver. | No. Better plate, still plate. |
| A Rogers name with the word STERLING | Uncommon on these lines. | Read the whole mark before you decide. Sterling sitting beside the words plate, inlaid, EP or EPNS is a plated piece. | Tested, not assumed. Solid pieces are paid at the live rate. |
Pattern names such as the ones printed beside these marks matter in 1 place only, and it is not here. They matter to collectors buying a complete named set. They make no difference to metal value. There is more on reading a mark in our guide to sterling vs silverplate, and every mark is drawn out at a readable size on our what is my silver worth page.
If the mark is worn flat, or you cannot find one at all, do not guess and do not polish. Email a photo to contact@silverplatecanada.ca and we will tell you what it looks like before you pack anything.
What a Rogers chest is worth
Plate is paid at a flat published rate, worked out on weight. The rate stays steady from day to day and it is the same for everyone. What changes the figure is the shape of the piece, not the mark on it: a fork, a teapot and a knife carrying the identical Rogers stamp are paid at 3 different rates, because 3 different amounts of what you are selling are actually there.
| Item | We pay (CAD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Silver plated flatware (forks, spoons, serving pieces) | $10.50/lb | Flat rate. Where most of a Rogers chest sits. |
| Silver plated holloware (teapots, trays, candlesticks, bowls) | $7.50/lb | Flat rate. The matching tray and tea service off the sideboard. |
| Silver plated knives (non-magnetic handle) | $3.50/lb | Most of a knife is blade and handle filler, not plate, so knives carry their own rate. |
| Gold plated (any piece, magnetic or not) | $3.00/lb | Worth less than silver plate: the coating is very thin, and the metal under gold plate is mostly cheaper and often magnetic. |
| Sterling and 925, 900 and 800 silver | Live rate, on weight | Follows the metal market, so the figure moves through the day. Today's is on our rates page. |
| Pewter (marked pewter) | $10.00/lb | Flat rate |
| Brass and bronze | $2.50/lb | Flat rate |
| Copper-nickel | $2.50/lb | Flat rate |
| Copper | Live rate, on weight | Follows the copper market, so the figure moves through the day. |
| Silver plated and costume jewellery | By metal | Paid by the metal it is made of, which we find when we test each piece. Zinc (pot metal) and steel jewellery has no value. |
| Iron, steel, aluminium and zinc (pot metal) | No value | Already in the box? We recycle them at no charge and your receipt shows them at no value. |
| Gold, 10K to 24K, and gold filled | Live rate, by the gram | Priced by karat, and tested rather than taken from the stamp. |
| Silver coins | Live rate, by the gram | Canadian and US silver coins and sterling coins, paid by the gram of coin. |
A worked example
The weights below are examples, not promises. We have not weighed your chest. The only weight that counts is the one on our scale with the parcel open on camera. Copy the arithmetic, not the figures.
A service for 8 in its fitted wooden chest, plus the tray and tea service that lived with it:
- 40 plated pieces, knives set aside. Call it 4 lb. 4 x $10.50 = $42.00
- 8 plated knives, handles not magnetic. Call it 1.5 lb. 1.5 x $3.50 = $5.25
- Teapot, sugar and creamer. Call it 5 lb of holloware. 5 x $7.50 = $37.50
- 1 large serving tray. Call it 5 lb. 5 x $7.50 = $37.50
Total $122.25. If you use our discounted shipping label, its cost comes off your payment and is shown on your receipt. You do not pay for the label out of pocket. Find a second chest in the basement, another 6 lb of plated flatware at $63.00, and the total becomes $185.25.
Leave the chest at home. The fitted wooden box, its felt lining and its hinges are not metal and are not paid for, and on many sets the box weighs more than the cutlery inside it. If you are posting your silver, that is weight you are paying to ship for nothing. Take the pieces out, keep the box.
The 1 time the name beats the metal
There is a real market for complete named flatware patterns, and Rogers patterns are in it. Collectors, antique dealers and replacement services buy a service for 12 sitting intact in its original chest, and they buy single pieces to fill gaps in somebody else's set. What they are paying for is the pattern and the completeness, not the silver.
We buy for metal value only. We melt and shred. We are not an appraiser and we do not give appraisals. So if your set is complete, matched and boxed, try that market first, because once it has been broken up for metal it is gone and it does not come back. The same goes for anything unusual: early Sheffield plate, Victorian figural pieces, and hotel, railway or steamship service struck with the name of the company that owned it.
What we can give you is 1 firm number to compare against, calculated off our published rates, before you send anything. That is worth having even if you sell elsewhere. Email photos to contact@silverplatecanada.ca and we will say plainly whether a piece belongs at a dealer or an auction instead of in our box. That check costs nothing, and it beats paying for a return trip.
3 ways to sell, from anywhere in Ontario
- Post it. Request a discounted prepaid shipping label, print it and drop the box with our courier. Labels are tracked. They carry no declared value, so if that matters to you, bring solid silver and gold in yourself. The label cost comes off your payment.
- We collect it. Within about a 2 hour drive of Mississauga we pick up 50 lb or more, with photos of it first. Enter your address to see the fee before you book. It comes off your payment.
- Bring it in. Book a drop-off time at 2687 Slough St, Mississauga. No shipping label and no courier cost.
Whichever route you pick, the rest is the same. Every parcel is opened and documented on continuous video. Every piece is sorted, weighed and tested, and each category is paid at its own rate. As part of our anti-money-laundering (FINTRAC) compliance program, we ask every seller for photo ID. Payment is by Interac e-Transfer with an itemized receipt showing every category, weight, rate and dollar, so you can check it line by line. Everything we buy is held intact and unmelted for 30 clear days before it is processed, and anything you want back inside that window goes home by tracked courier at your shipping cost, which we tell you in writing before it ships.
Common questions
Does 1847 on Rogers Bros silverware mean it was made in 1847?
No. The 1847 is the year the company behind the name was founded. It was printed on flatware made long afterwards, and it is not a silver standard. Everything sold under the name is silver plate.
Is 1847 Rogers Bros worth anything?
Yes, on weight, at a flat published rate. Plated flatware is $10.50 per lb, plated holloware $7.50 and plated knives with a non-magnetic handle $3.50. A full chest usually comes to tens of dollars rather than hundreds, and a sideboard of matching holloware adds to it.
Is 1847 Rogers Bros ever solid silver?
The Rogers flatware lines are plated. If the word STERLING is struck on a piece, read the whole mark before you decide, because sterling sitting beside plate, inlaid, EP or EPNS is still a plated piece. Every piece is tested on its own when it arrives, so guessing wrong at home costs you nothing.
Is a complete 1847 Rogers Bros pattern set worth more than the metal?
It can be. There is a separate market for complete named patterns, through collectors, dealers and replacement services. We buy for metal value only and we melt and shred, so once a set is broken up that market is gone. If you think yours belongs there, sell it there first.
Should I polish Rogers flatware before I sell it?
No. Polishing lifts a little silver off with the tarnish and changes nothing about what you are paid. Send it exactly as you found it, tarnish and all.
Not sure what else is in the box? Our guide to whether silver plate is worth anything works through a whole drawer, and where to sell silverware in Ontario compares the 6 kinds of buyer. Holding Birks as well? Birks silver marks shows which Birks pieces are sterling and which are plate. Or send us a photo of the mark and a team member will tell you what it looks like.
Silver Plate Canada • silverplatecanada.ca • (416) 799-7528 • contact@silverplatecanada.ca • 2687 Slough St, Mississauga, ON