Expert: Martin G Roberts - 6/11/2006

Question
I just purchased a pewter creamer or gravy boat ( it looks like a claw foot tub with a handle ) about 4" long and 2 or 3" high.
On the bottom it says Whitehouse & Woodhill
and has a "C" underneath.
I have searched the internet and ebay and can not find this maker anywhere. I would love to know how old it is. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. thanks!

Answer
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Sorry to be slow responding. The maker is a new one on me, and I was trying to find a reference book in which I expected it to be listed - it wasn't! Oh well. If this is an English piece, which seems likely, then I suspect it was made by one of the several Whitehouses who worked as Britannia Metal makers in Birmingham, England, around 1820-1850. But I cannot find any trace of a partnership with a Woodhill. Sorry. It is possible it is an American firm.

Britannia Metal, which this will be, is a pewter alloy formulated to enable pieces to be produced from sheet metal by fabrication (stamping, rolling, spinning, etc.) rather than casting.