HISTORY:
The company began Silversmith operations around 1925 and look to have been based in Victoria. Around 1975 a new entity was created for the export market, Strachan Productions with the aim being to export their Silverware products to England - no small challenge! The reference for this information is the National Library of Australia, from a publication called Overseas Trading dated 1975
You can read the full article HERE
Go to page 486 for the article about Strachan and some of the company history.
The reference for the acquistion of Strachan by McPherson's Ltd (a very large multi-product Australian company with a long history) is McPherson's own historical company time-line.
STRACHAN SILVERWARE AUSTRALIA - Drink Coasters (Set Of Six)
NO HOLDER IS PROVIDED (missing in action at this stage)
Production likely to be 1970's
Brand name: Strachan
Pattern: The name of this pattern is unknown, if it ever had one! In the style of Sheffield (UK) designs from the day, I guess it could be loosely described as filigree.
Please view the photographs to get an idea of what the pattern looks like
Barware which may well have had the original design made in the 1950's BUT these coasters are far more likely to be of a mid 1970's production. This was the period when Strachan was making a big export 'push' for the UK market, so the design reflected British tastes.
Finish: ALL Silver plate (probably with a Brass base metal) and the underside is Green rubber (non-slip) material
Identification markings or stamps: STRACHAN is stamped into the base rubber, no other markings from the manufacturer
DIMENSIONS - WEIGHT:
This is a set of six, the total weight is 350g for all six coasters
Each coaster:
Measures: 83mm diameter x 3.5mm thick
55g weight each
This means the coasters are stable, have good 'non-slip' behaviour AND you can wash these.
No more liquid soaked cork or paper coasters which just turn into a soggy mess or becoming terribly discoloured!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
If we were to rate these out of 10, a good solid 9 applies to this set.
The Silver plating is substantially clean and without Brown or Black marks which often occur due to the Silver plating reacting with the environment or the coaster not being dried properly.
Very minor light useage scratches to the edges of the coaster - believe me, these are very minor!
All rubber bases are undamaged and clean
SPECIAL NOTE: When not in use we have always stacked these 'metal sides' together, never allowing the rubber base of one coaster be in contact with the Silver plate of another coaster - why? When we first bought these, we noticed some Brown/Dark Grey marks on the Silver plating and we were told this is the rubber reacting with the Silver plating. Cleaned the Silver and from then on stacked them rubber to rubber base and never had a problem since!
Now that this description is complete, I have now placed these coasters into a sealed clear plastic pack so that their present condition (as photographed) is maintained.
