The Meriden Britannia Company was formed in 1852 in Meriden, Connecticutas a manufacturing company focused on producing wares in britannia metal. By 1876, the Meriden Britannia Company had grown a great deal and the company made significant efforts at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in that year. The company won the First Place medal for plated wares. According to Sotheby's in New York, "The publicity of the award and the impression the firm made on the fair's 8 million visitors was continued by the catalogues and other intensive marketing; by the end of the 1870s Meriden Britannia Co. was considered the largest silverware company in the world."