# Table forks, worn through

> The silver went first, then the nickel, then the patience.

https://vitrine.themes.dev/collection/forks/

- Made by: Merrin & Sons, Tenter Lane
- Date: 1924
- Material: Silver plate on nickel silver
- Size: 20 cm long
- Cost new: Nine shillings the dozen
- Came from: Made in the works; kept by the family
- On view: The workshop, on the packing table

Electroplated forks were the works’ best line between the wars: they looked like silver for a fraction of the price. These two are what is left of a dozen that came home from the packing room as seconds, used every day for sixty years.

Where the plate has worn through you can see the yellow nickel silver underneath, worn in exactly the place a fork meets a plate.