An 18th century close-plated ‘Beef Machine’.

A close-plated ‘Beef Machine’, circa 1770, English. ‘Beef machines’ were intended to secure joints of meat for carving and would have stood upon a large meat dish. They usually comprise two upright struts, with slots for skewers, the end of the skewer has another slot so that it canbe fastened into position.. Only a few are known to survive in silver and this is, apparently, the only surviving example made in close-plate: that is to say, iron with a covering layer of silver-plating formed from sheet silver fused, with solder, to the surface of the iron base. This ancient technique was popular throughout the 18th century and early 19th century but largely disappeared after the introduction of electro-plating on nickel silver alloy.

[A silver Beef Machine will be added to the pages of this website and will carry some more information about archival references to these articles]