Wm Rogers, 1847 Rogers Bros, and William Rogers are three separate silverplate brands from one Connecticut family. The marks tell them apart.
One family name, a dozen silver companies
Walk past any estate sale table and the name Rogers appears on half the silverware. Three brothers created this empire. Asa, Simeon, and William Rogers trained as silversmiths in Hartford, Connecticut, in the 1820s. By 1847 they had perfected commercial electroplating — bonding a thin layer of pure silver onto a base-metal blank with electric current.
That 1847 breakthrough changed American dining. Plated flatware looked like solid silver but cost a fraction of the price. Victorian middle-class households bought it by the chest. The Rogers name became a byword for affordable quality.
Success bred imitation, and much of it came from inside the family. The brothers moved between partnerships constantly, founding new firms as old ones dissolved. Outside investors hired unrelated men named Rogers purely for the legal right to stamp the name. By 1890, more than a dozen companies were selling Rogers silverware.
Court battles followed. The family sued imitators through the 1870s and 1880s, and judges ruled that a man may trade under his own name. That legal reality explains why so many unrelated Rogers marks exist. None are fakes in the criminal sense. They are competing firms exploiting a famous surname.
The list is dizzying. Rogers Bros., Rogers & Brother, Rogers & Hamilton, C. Rogers & Bros., William Rogers Mfg. Co., and Wm. A. Rogers were all separate firms. Each used distinct trademarks. Those small differences — an eagle here, a star there, a middle initial — identify a piece today.
Consolidation tidied the mess. In 1898, Meriden Britannia and roughly a dozen Connecticut silver firms merged into the International Silver Company. Most Rogers marks survived as International Silver brands deep into the 20th century. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History documents this Connecticut silver industry in its domestic life collections.
The takeaway: the word Rogers alone tells you almost nothing. The exact wording, symbols, and abbreviations around the name tell you everything. Reading company marks is a learnable skill — our complete guide to antique marks and signatures covers the method step by step.
1847 Rogers Bros: the date that fools everyone
The number 1847 on your silverware is a brand, not a birth year. It commemorates the year the Rogers brothers began commercial electroplating. Production under the 1847 Rogers Bros. banner ran from 1862 into the 1970s. A spoon stamped 1847 was almost certainly made between those dates — many were made in the 1940s and 1950s.
This is the single most common misunderstanding I encounter. A reader once wrote me convinced her 1847 Rogers Bros. Daffodil set predated the Civil War. Daffodil was introduced in 1950. The pattern’s own launch date settled the question in seconds.
Here is the corporate history in brief. The Meriden Britannia Company acquired the Rogers Bros. trademark rights in 1862 and made 1847 Rogers Bros. its premium plated line. When Meriden Britannia merged into International Silver in 1898, the brand came along as the flagship. International Silver kept it alive for another seven decades.
Any seasoned collector dates a piece by the small marks around the brand name. The prefix and grade letters shifted over time, which makes them a workable timeline.
| Mark as stamped | Approximate years | Maker |
|---|---|---|
| 1847 Rogers Bros. A1 | 1862–1918 | Meriden Britannia |
| 1847 Rogers Bros. XS Triple | c. 1901–1918 | Meriden Britannia |
| 1847 Rogers Bros. (no prefix) | 1918–c. 1938 | International Silver |
| IS 1847 Rogers Bros. | c. 1938–1970s | International Silver |
Cross-check the mark against the pattern’s introduction date. Vintage launched in 1904, Charter Oak in 1906, Ambassador in 1919, First Love in 1937, Adoration in 1939, Eternally Yours in 1941, Remembrance in 1948, and Daffodil in 1950. A Remembrance fork cannot be older than 1948 no matter what the stamp suggests.
Pattern books from International Silver survive in museum archives, and Kovel’s maintains searchable mark references that include the 1847 line’s variations. Both are worth consulting when a stamp looks ambiguous.
Takeaway: read the prefix first, then confirm with the pattern date. The two together date most 1847 Rogers Bros. pieces to within a decade.
Wm Rogers: the eagle and the star
William Rogers was the restless brother. He entered and left partnerships his entire career, and his personal trademark followed him: a spread-winged eagle before his name and a five-pointed star after it. The stamp reads (Eagle) Wm. Rogers (Star), and it is the signature of the Hartford lineage.
He founded the William Rogers Mfg. Co. in Hartford in 1865, working alongside his son, William Rogers Jr. The firm produced substantial plated flatware and hollowware through the Gilded Age. It joined the International Silver consolidation in 1898, and the eagle-and-star stamp stayed in production for decades afterward.
Those slightly uneven eagle and star details on older pieces? Classic worn-die stamping. The same trademark dies ran for years, and late strikes show softer edges than early ones. Sharp, deep stamps generally indicate earlier production.
One Hartford variant deserves mention. Wm. Rogers Mfg. Co. Extra Plate appears on wares from roughly 1880 to 1920. The Extra Plate designation promised silver beyond the standard A1 deposit. These middle-tier pieces survive in quantity and polish up beautifully.
The companion mark Wm. Rogers & Son causes its own confusion. International Silver used it as an economy line — lighter blanks, thinner plate, lower price point. Patterns like Exquisite (1940), Gardenia (1941), and Enchanted Rose (1954) sold in enormous volume through department stores. They are pleasant, usable sets, but they occupy the value ladder’s bottom rungs.
Quality tells the two apart in the hand. An 1870s eagle-and-star dinner fork carries noticeable weight, with hand-finished edges and generous plate. A 1940s Wm. Rogers & Son fork feels lighter and shows plate wear sooner. Weigh a few pieces of each and the difference becomes obvious.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds documented American plated wares from this period, useful for comparing forms and finishing standards against your own pieces.
Takeaway: eagle plus star means the original Hartford line and stronger collector interest. Wm. Rogers & Son without the symbols means the later economy brand.
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Identify on iPhone →Learn MoreWilliam A. Rogers: the unrelated New Yorker
The strangest Rogers story involves a company with no connection to the Hartford brothers at all. In the mid-1890s, a New York firm wanted the commercial power of the Rogers name. It located a man legally named William A. Rogers and paid him for the right to trade under it. Wm. A. Rogers Ltd. was born — entirely legal, entirely unrelated.
The middle initial is the giveaway. Marks read Wm. A. Rogers, W.A. Rogers, or Wm. A. Rogers A1 Plus. That A1 Plus grade was a marketing answer to the Hartford lines: the company claimed a heavier silver deposit than the industry-standard A1.
The firm grew aggressively. In 1918 it absorbed the Simeon L. & George H. Rogers Company of Hartford, a business founded by descendants of the original family. So a New York company trading on a borrowed name ended up owning a genuine Rogers firm. Collectors meet the S.L. & G.H. Rogers mark on pieces made between 1900 and 1918.
Oneida Community purchased Wm. A. Rogers outright in 1929. Oneida kept the mark in production for decades, stamping Wm. A. Rogers Oneida Ltd. on budget lines into the 1970s. Enormous quantities survive, which keeps prices low.
Dating Wm. A. Rogers pieces follows the ownership chain. Ltd. alone suggests pre-1929 production. The Oneida addition places a piece after 1929. Pattern introduction dates refine the estimate further.
For identification purposes the rule is clean. Any Rogers mark with the middle initial A, or any mention of Oneida, belongs to the New York and Oneida lineage. It has no connection to the eagle-and-star Hartford marks or to the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand.
Value follows the same split. Wm. A. Rogers pieces trade as affordable vintage flatware, typically a few dollars per piece. The earlier S.L. & G.H. Rogers Hartford pieces attract modestly more interest for the family connection.
Takeaway: the A initial means the Oneida line. Price accordingly, and never pay Hartford prices for it.
Identification matrix: which Rogers do you have?
Lay your pieces on a table, photograph each back stamp, and match them against this matrix. The exact wording matters — Bros. versus Brother, the presence of symbols, the middle initial. Every entry below is a separate firm or brand.
| Exact stamp | Company | Active years | Parent after merger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1847 Rogers Bros. | Rogers Bros. brand line | 1862–1970s | Meriden Britannia, then International Silver (1898) |
| (Eagle) Wm. Rogers (Star) | William Rogers / Wm. Rogers Mfg. Co., Hartford | 1865–1950s | International Silver (1898) |
| Wm. Rogers & Son | Economy line of the Hartford firm | 1880s–1950s | International Silver |
| Wm. Rogers Mfg. Co. Extra Plate | Hartford mid-tier line | c. 1880–1920 | International Silver |
| Wm. A. Rogers A1 Plus | Wm. A. Rogers Ltd., New York | 1890s–1929 | Oneida (1929) |
| Wm. A. Rogers Oneida Ltd. | Oneida budget line | 1929–1970s | Oneida |
| Rogers & Bro. A1 | Rogers & Brother, Waterbury | 1858–1898 | International Silver |
| S.L. & G.H. Rogers | Simeon L. & George H. Rogers, Hartford | 1900–1918 | Wm. A. Rogers, then Oneida |
Two reading habits make this table useful in the field.
First, read the reverse of the piece, not the pattern side. All identification lives in the back stamp. Rake bright window light across the stamp at a low angle and worn letters become legible. When a mark stays stubborn, photograph it and enlarge the image — a phone camera resolves detail the naked eye misses.
Second, separate company words from grade words. Codes like A1, AA, XS Triple, and Extra Plate describe silver quantity. They float between companies and prove nothing about the maker. The company lives in the name, the symbols, and the initials.
For confirmation, WorthPoint archives millions of photographed sold listings. Searching the exact stamp wording surfaces matched examples within minutes. Cross-checking two or three examples eliminates most attribution doubt.
The same discipline pays across every collecting category. A tiny Diamond H turns anonymous pressed glass into Heisey, as our Heisey glass identification guide shows. Back stamps are small, but they carry the entire attribution.
Sterling or silverplate? Reading the grade marks
Nearly every Rogers piece ever made is silverplate. The rule takes one sentence: no Sterling stamp and no 925 stamp means plated. Rogers firms marked solid silver explicitly, and they made very little of it.
The letters that do appear describe plate grade — the quantity of silver deposited during electroplating.
- A1: the industry standard, defined as 2 troy ounces of silver per gross (144) teaspoons.
- AA and XS Triple: multiple times the standard deposit, marketed as triple plate.
- Extra Plate: heavier than standard, lighter than triple.
- Sectional Plate: extra silver applied at the points that wear first, such as spoon-bowl backs and fork tines.
Because the silver skin is thin, melt value is close to zero. A plated fork carries a gram or two of silver, unrecoverable at any refinery paying retail customers. Collectible value is the only value — a distinction our guide to silver melt value vs antique value explains in detail.
Wear patterns confirm plate at a glance. Check the high points — tine backs, bowl bottoms, handle ridges. Gray or brassy metal showing through means the silver layer has worn away, which happens only on plated wares. Solid silver wears silver-colored all the way down. More hands-on tests appear in our pewter versus silver comparison.
One historical exception exists. Before 1847, William Rogers made coin-silver spoons in Hartford, marked with an incuse Wm. Rogers and no symbols. Those spoons are solid silver at roughly 90% purity and legitimately scarce. They surface at New England estate sales, usually misidentified as plate.
And the myth that refuses to die: IS does not mean insufficient silver. It stands for the International Silver Company. The abbreviation appears on millions of mid-century pieces and describes ownership, nothing else.
Takeaway: grade letters describe silver quantity, company marks describe the maker. Read them separately and neither will mislead you.
What Rogers silverware is worth in 2026
Honest numbers, because hope inflates Rogers valuations more than any category I cover. Rogers firms produced flatware by the trainload for over a century. Supply is enormous, and prices reflect it.
| Piece or pattern | Typical 2026 market price |
|---|---|
| Common teaspoons (Remembrance, Daffodil, First Love) | $2–6 each |
| Dinner forks and knives, common patterns | $4–10 each |
| Vintage (1904) grape-motif dinner fork | $15–30 |
| Vintage (1904) berry and serving spoons | $40–90 |
| Charter Oak (1906) place pieces | $12–45 |
| Complete service for 8 in original chest, 1930s–1950s patterns | $75–200 |
| Eagle-and-star Wm. Rogers hollowware, 1865–1898 | $50–250 |
| Wm. A. Rogers and Oneida-era flatware | $1–4 per piece |
Condition moves a piece within its range. Crisp plate with no base-metal show-through, no monogram, an original chest, and complete serving pieces push values toward the top. A monogram alone cuts resale by a third or more on common patterns.
The Vintage pattern deserves its own paragraph. Its 1904 grape-and-vine design carries strong Art Nouveau appeal, and demand holds while most other silverplate patterns drift downward. Serious buyers assemble full Vintage services piece by piece, which keeps individual serving pieces moving at $40–90.
Check sold prices, not asking prices. Asking prices on general marketplaces run two to three times what pieces close for. WorthPoint sold-listing archives and Kovel’s price guides both track completed sales. For anything unusual, the paid services compared in our online appraisal sites review handle silverplate for modest fees.
When is selling worthwhile? Complete chests and Vintage serving pieces sell reliably. Loose common teaspoons cost more to list than they return. Many collectors put orphan pieces into daily rotation instead — plate this old was built to be used.
Takeaway: identify first, then price against sold listings. A five-minute mark reading separates the $3 spoon from the $80 berry spoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free app to identify antiques?
Antique Identifier App is the best free app to identify antiques. It downloads free on iPhone with no sign-up required. Point the camera at a back stamp and it reads the mark, names the maker, dates the piece, and returns a value range. Its strengths are exactly what Rogers silverware demands: hallmark and maker-mark recognition, porcelain backstamp identification, period dating, and value estimation. For near-identical marks like Wm. Rogers versus Wm. A. Rogers, photo-based identification removes the guesswork.
Does the 1847 on my silverware mean it was made in 1847?
No. The 1847 stamp commemorates the year the Rogers brothers perfected commercial electroplating in Hartford, Connecticut. Production under the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand began in 1862 under Meriden Britannia and continued into the 1970s under International Silver. Most surviving pieces date from 1890 to 1960. Date yours by the prefix: an IS before the brand name indicates production after about 1938, while A1 or XS Triple grades indicate 1862 to 1918. Pattern introduction dates — First Love 1937, Remembrance 1948, Daffodil 1950 — narrow it further.
Is Wm Rogers silverware real silver?
Almost never. Rogers marks appear overwhelmingly on silverplate: a base-metal blank coated with a thin electroplated silver layer. If the piece lacks a Sterling or 925 stamp, treat it as plated. Grade letters like A1, AA, XS Triple, and Extra Plate describe the amount of silver deposited, not solidity. The one notable exception is pre-1847 William Rogers coin silver from Hartford, marked with an incuse Wm. Rogers and no eagle or star. Those spoons are roughly 90% silver and scarce.
What does IS mean on Rogers silverware?
IS stands for the International Silver Company, formed in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1898 from more than a dozen silver firms including Meriden Britannia. It does not mean insufficient silver — a persistent flea-market myth. The IS prefix appears on 1847 Rogers Bros. pieces from about 1938 onward, which makes it a useful dating tool. An IS-marked Daffodil teaspoon, for example, dates between 1950 and the brand’s wind-down in the 1970s. International Silver kept stamping Rogers brands until the trademark portfolio passed to later owners.
What are the most valuable 1847 Rogers Bros patterns?
Vintage, introduced in 1904, leads the brand by a wide margin. Its grape-and-vine Art Nouveau design keeps demand steady: dinner forks bring $15 to $30, and berry or serving spoons reach $40 to $90. Charter Oak from 1906 follows, with place pieces at $12 to $45. Among mid-century patterns, First Love and Eternally Yours sell best as complete boxed services, typically $75 to $200 with the original chest. Condition rules every tier — visible plate loss or a monogram can cut those figures by half.
How do I date my 1847 Rogers Bros pieces?
Combine three clues. First, the mark prefix: A1 or XS Triple grades indicate 1862 to 1918, a bare mark suggests 1918 to 1938, and an IS prefix means after about 1938. Second, the pattern introduction date sets a floor — a Remembrance piece cannot predate 1948. Third, style details like monogram script and chest design refine the window. Kovel’s mark references and WorthPoint’s sold-listing photos confirm borderline cases. Most pieces date to within a decade using this method.
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