period plumbing and antique taps.

[robgil]

i picked up some 'antique' brass bath taps of e bay recently. i received them in the post only to find they were a bit of a dog. they are brass but they were at some point chrome plated and the chrome has been removed. parts of the brass are pink and other parts look as if they are made from iron/tin mixed in with the brass.

anyhow , in my quest to find cast brass or nickel bathroom fittings i have ventured into a bit of a mine field. does anyone know of any reading that i can find to brush up on my antique bathroom fittings so i know whats what?

 

[Pford75]

Can't help on the reading material, but we also had some antique brass taps where the plating had worn off. We had ours re-plated in nickel by a local restorer and were very pleased with the results. Wasn't expensive either

 

[robgil]

now thats a thought , i had considered re-plating and the more i think about nickel fittings the more i warm to the idea. i just have to find some nice antique ones to plate first.
i almost bought some from e bay last night however i found out that the company who makes them still exists , i dropped them a line last night and the reply told me they were made in 1980 (they are being advertised as antiques, 'the real deal' :shock: ) , the ceramic inserts say s.a.l. barwil of london and barwil's told me they made these taps for sanitary appliances of south london in and around 1980. you really do need to research an antique before you buy it.