Q: Can you tell me something about this metal dish? It’s been in a small china cabinet that belonged to my mother-in-law. I’m 103 years old, so I know the dish must be very old, too. It’s marked on the bottom “Mfd & Plated by Reed and Barton, Taunton, Mass., Pat. Apl’d for, No. 952.”

 

A: Henry G. Reed and Charles E. Barton started working together at Babbitt & Crossman in Taunton, Massachusetts. The company made Britannia ware, a shiny metal that looks something like silver. The two men took over the business in 1834 and renamed it Reed & Barton in 1840. Silver plated flatware and hollowware were made. The company began making sterling silver in 1889. Reed & Barton declared bankruptcy in 2015 and became part of The Lenox Corporation. Reed & Barton is still in business, in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Your covered dish is silver plated and is a style popular in the early 1900s. It looks like it needs a good cleaning, or perhaps needs to be replated.