A taperstick is similar to, and usually in the style of, a candlestick, but smaller. It is about 10 cm high and is used to hold a thin candle called a taper. Tapersticks usually exist singly and not as one of a pair since one is usually sufficient for the intended use. The socket is sometimes lined with paper in order to secure the tall thin taper. The taper, made of wax and non-odorous, was used mainly for melting sealing wax and for lighting candles, tobacco pipes etc., and not as a source of illumination; hence the piece was sometimes called a ‘tobacco candlestick’.

This taperstick is made of Sheffield plate, which originated in 1742 when Thomas Boulsover (1704-1788) discovered that bars of silver and copper, in unequal proportions, fused by heating under pressure, could be rolled into sheets of laminated metal and worked like silver. The industry this material created flourished for about 100 years until superseded by electroplating in the 1840s.

The process Joseph Hancock (1711-1790) developed for the large-scale production fused plate (Sheffield plate) differed little throughout the course of the industry. An ingot of copper was covered with a thin sheet of sterling silver. These ingots were approximately 1½ to 1¾ inches thick and 2½ inches wide by 8 inches long. This could vary according to the weight and size of the plated sheet that was required to be made. Generally speaking however, the thickness of the silver sheet was 1/40 that of the copper block which meant that 10-12 oz of silver was used for every 8 lbs of copper.

After about 1760, it became the practice to plate two sides of the copper ingot so that the resulting sheet was plated with silver on both sides. In July 1830 Samuel Roberts (1763-1849) patented a variation (no. 5963) whereby a sheet of German silver, an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel, was inserted between the silver and the copper block. This produced a laminate of far greater durability.