Another Group of New Figural Napkin Rings

Another group of new figural napkin rings is available in the market. This batch was made in India. All are genuine silver plate over brass. The new rings are copies of specific Victorian originals but none have any permanent mark. ACRN paid $50 for the group of four new rings shown in this article.

As with most other new figural napkin rings, the quality of this group is very poor. The new goat, for example (Figs. 5 & 7), has a terrible frosty grainy finish that screams "reproduction".

Another interesting feature of this group is the strangely out-of-scale human figures. The children in these new pieces are not much over 2″ high which is just slightly taller than the napkin rings.

New rings themselves are all perfectly flat with very shallow stamped designs (Fig. 2). In many cases, the pattern meanders diagonally across the surface of the ring. The inside of these new rings is nicely finished unlike many other new rings which are rough inside.

Examined firsthand, none of these rings should pose a great problem. However, their poor detail is not always going to be obvious when seen on a computer monitor if you are viewing them on-line.

Fig. 1 New copy of original Meriden #202 bird on branch. Mounted on figural three-sided leaf base.

Fig. 2 Typical new ring. Very shallow stamped design. Note how design is not parallel with ring and runs at a diagonal.

Fig. 3 This ring is a copy of a Kate Greenaway style original made by several Victorian firms. The new boy is 2¼″ tall, much smaller than originals of this figure which average about 3″.

Fig. 4 Close up of the boy's face in Fig. 3. The very poor detail is typical in this group of new rings.

Fig. 5 New goat pulling napkin ring on wheels. Length 4¼″. This example has a frosted grainy finish.

Fig. 6 Close up of frosted finish on new goat. Other pieces of this same model may have a better finish.

Fig. 7 Original napkin ring by Meriden. Length 4¼″. Crisp realistic detail and excellent quality silver plating.

Fig. 8 Close up showing fine detail and lifelike quality of original.

Fig. 9 New boy feeding dog. Very poor detail. The boy is only slightly over 2″ tall. Close up of dog shown below.

Fig. 10

Fig. 11 Original boy feeding dog by Meriden #199. Figure of boy is about 3″ tall. Realistic natural appearing dog shown below.

Fig. 12