Expert: Martin G Roberts - 4/28/2007

Question
My family recently acquired what we were told was an antique hot chocolate
The pot was manufactured by James Dixon & Sons in Sheffield. The piece is
stamped as being EPBM, bears the trumpet trademark, pattern number 04854
(or possibly 04864 it is a little hard to distinguish), and the number 3 (which I
believe represents the number of cups it can fill). What we were hoping to
find out is the estimated age, if it is really considered to be a hot chocolate
pot, and any other interesting information you might be aware of. Many
thanks and kind regards.

Answer
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Without a photograph it is difficult to say whether it is a chocolate pot or not. But since chocolate pots and coffee pots are very similar (if not in fact identical), it would make more sense to describe this as a coffee pot. Certainly coffee pots by Dixon are very common.

EPBM: electroplated Britannia metal, a cheap silver substitute. BM is a pewter alloy formulated for fabrication (rolling, pressing, spinning, etc) rather than casting.

YOu may be right about the 3, which is either the capacity in Imperial half-pints, or a factory workbench identified.

Made around 1860-1900 (later dates within that range are more likely).

So, yes it's antique, though EPBM is not widely collected and of little value.

Martin
www.antique-metalware.co.uk