Vintage Silver Plate Fluted Bud Vase, Weighted Foot, c. 1940–1970
Viridian Eclection
The Piece
A small bud vase in silver plate, about eight inches tall, built in three parts that read as one line. The rim flares into a shallow fluted trumpet with a scalloped edge, the flutes running down into a slender baluster stem that narrows to a waist and then swells again. At that waist sits a narrow collar band in a warm gilt tone, the single note of contrast on the piece. Below it the foot spreads into a domed shell, radially fluted in the same rhythm as the rim so the top and the bottom answer each other.
The foot is weighted and closed underneath with a disc, which is the construction used on small hollowware to keep a tall narrow vessel from going over when a stem is put in it. Underneath, the plating is worn back across much of the surface and the warm copper alloy body shows through in broad patches, with darkened tarnish caught in the recesses of the fluting.
The same wear runs up the outside of the stem, where the silver has thinned across the belly and the copper reads through as a warm bronze glow. On the rim and the foot, where the plate is thicker and the surface less handled, the silver is still bright.
History & Provenance
The metal question is settled by the foot, and it settles the other way from what the two tone appearance first suggests. A solid silver vessel, whether sterling or continental eight hundred standard, is the same metal all the way through and cannot wear to a different colour. This one wears to a warm copper alloy across the underside and along the stem, which is exactly what silver plate does when the deposited layer is polished and handled away over decades. It is plate, and it is offered as plate.
That also explains the warm stem. It is not a designed contrast between two metals, it is the copper showing through on the part of the vase a hand closes around. The gilt collar at the waist is deliberate; the glow on the belly above it is not.
No maker mark, standard mark or pattern number was found on the exterior or on the underside of the foot. That is common on small plated giftware and it carries no date by itself.
What does carry evidence is the construction. The body is thin stamped sheet rather than raised or cast, and the fluting on the rim and the foot is machine regular, every flute the same width and the same depth. That is industrial production and it rules out the hand raised work of the nineteenth century. The weighted foot closed with a disc is the convention American makers of small hollowware settled into through the middle of the twentieth century for candlesticks and bud vases of exactly this scale. Taken together the piece sits in the postwar decades rather than earlier.
Product Details
| Era | c. 1940–1970. Dated on construction, since no mark is present and an absent mark carries no date. The thin stamped body and the machine regular fluting are industrial rather than hand raised, which rules out nineteenth century work, and the weighted foot closed with a disc is the mid twentieth century American convention for small hollowware of this scale. The range is what that evidence supports; a maker mark would narrow it |
| Form | Footed bud vase with fluted trumpet rim, baluster stem and domed shell foot |
| Material | Silver plate over a copper alloy body, with a gilt tone collar at the waist. Offered as plate, not as sterling and not as continental silver |
| Base | Weighted, closed underneath with a disc |
| Marks | None found on the exterior or the underside |
| Dimensions | Approximately 8 in. high by 3 in. diameter at the foot |
| Condition | Good decorative condition with honest wear. Structurally sound and standing true. Plating worn through across much of the underside and along the belly of the stem, exposing the warm copper alloy beneath, with darkened tarnish in the flutes. Rim and foot remain bright. No dents, splits or losses found. Sold as found and not replated |
Why It Belongs in Your Home
One stem, and the vase does the rest. The narrow throat holds a single rose or a sprig of something upright without any of the propping a wide mouth needs, and the weighted foot means it will not go over when somebody walks past the table. At eight inches it is the right height for a bedside, a bathroom shelf or a place setting.
The worn plate is the part worth arguing for rather than apologising over. Bright uniform silver reads as new. Silver that has gone warm and coppery exactly where hands have held it reads as something that was used and kept, and it sits far better beside brass, walnut and old leather than a polished piece would. Grouped with two or three other small metal vessels at different heights it does more work than its size suggests.
Every piece is packed with professional-grade materials: multiple foam layers, double-boxing, directional and fragile handling labels. For large furniture we use custom timber crating. We photograph packing before dispatch and can provide images on request.
White-glove delivery is complimentary within 100 miles of Reno, NV. National shipping quotes provided at checkout. All shipments are photographed and documented. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; we provide all documentation needed to support your claim.
Local pickup is available at Viridian HQ (Reno, NV) with 2–4 days notice. Contact us to arrange. Private viewings also available.
All antique and vintage items are sold as described and all sales are final. Each listing includes detailed condition notes and photographs so you can make a fully informed decision. We encourage buyers to ask questions — about condition, dimensions, finish, provenance — before purchasing.
Antiques are irreplaceable and one-of-a-kind. Carrier handling is outside our control once a piece has left our facility, and major carriers including FedEx do not insure antiques. We do everything within our power to ensure safe transit, but cannot accept liability for carrier damage. If damage occurs in transit, we will provide full documentation to support your carrier claim.
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