A silver plated tea pot and coffee pot matching set by Thomas Prime & Son dating from around 1870. Both are of circular lobed form with floral cast finials, acanthus leaf capped scroll handles with bone heat insulators and raised on four bracket feet with vine decor, and both have fluted spouts. Both are in good condition but each with a repair to the base of the spout visible from beneath.
 
The teapot measures 25cm (9.84") spout to handle and stands 18.5cm (7.28") high, the coffee pot 25cm (9.84") spout to handle and 23.5cm (9.25") high.
 
Thomas Prime & Son was founded in 1818, Father, son and grandson were all involved in the silverplate business,Thomas Prime Senior (1797-1881), Thomas Prime Junior (1825-1892), and Thomas Prime Tertius, the Grandson born in 1856. The business was in Birmingham. Prime developed a method of plating called Magnetic Plate and in 1844 built a special machine to deposit silver, gold or copper. In 1849 the firm advertised that "...Electro Deposition of Silver, Gold, &c. by the Agency of Magnetic Machinery was brought to practical perfection by him..." on White Metal, on Steel and on Superior German Silver. The firm was active at the Patent Magneto Plate Works, 18 and 19 Northwood Street, Birmingham with other premises at 49 Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London. The great Victorian scientist, Sir Michael Faraday, visited the factory to see the practical application of his electrical experiments. This early electroplating machine still exists, and is currently in the Birmingham Science Museum. The firm exhibited at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851, the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and the International Exhibition in South Kensington in 1862. Thomas Prime was Mayor of Birmingham in 1869.  The factory was closed in about 1900.