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I have a silver bowl that I originally did not think was silver plated. However, I tried polishing it and it shined up quite a bit (although not perfect).
If a metal is silver colored and cleans up after polishing, does that mean it is silver plated? Can another silver colored metal get tarnished?
Usually, if something polishes up, I just call it silver plate, but I can usually find a maker’s mark of some kind. This one is more modern and only has a sticker “hand wash only”.
Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/lNjH4 -
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There are a number of silver colored alloys that tarnish. Nickel silver is common, and is an alloy of copper nickel and zinc. In the absence of markings, it might be safer to stick with “silvertone”. I see a lot of brass goods from India that have silvertone finish, probably some copper alloy.
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I have the exact same question: I picked up a mirror today and it was black with patina. I polished it with silver polish and it came out beautifully. Hard to see it in the pictures. It is engraved and embossed on both sides.
Any opinions?
Silver, silverplate, nickle silver? There are absolutely no silver markings anywhere except one place that has 8 8 (does that mean anything?)
From India? Mexico? To me it looks like something you might find at Pier1 or Urban Habitat, which is fancy import store here in Los Angeles.
As always, your invaluable input is greatly appreciated.
Sigal
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You can always get a kit to test it, but without markings would you really be comfortable claiming silver content and would that claim increase the value? I see testers as a way to verify markings are legit.
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As far as what we do, if it is silver there is either a hallmark but in the USA, we believe must carry an engraved or stamped .925 on it. That means it is real silver. Then following that suit is silver plate and pewter. Real pewter usually has a hallmark and many times several. Silver plated will state
silver plated”, Electro-plated, double, triple or quad plate and about half the time a company’s name on it. Then of course comes “stainless”If we don’t see any of those markings we will just stick with silver toned, a pewter like finish, and in item specifics or the description state the item is “unmarked”. Our thoughts are if it has an intrinsic value then the makers will put as much on it as they can to boost the actual retail selling price when it was first introduced into the market place. If nothing is stated on the object, then the mfg. had nothing to offer to induce a sense of value in the marketplace in the first place. So, we go with the “tone” route.
Also, another thought is that with so many different countries making alloys and who knows what the compositions consist of and if there is no international level of quality standards, with unmarked pieces who knows what the alloy composition is made from, what minerals or ores are more readily available in various countries, who knows what one has with unmarked pieces. Would a test kit provide a definitive answer to all those variations? Don’t know.
But just our method of trying to speed listings along or trying to buy higher end items.
the team at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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Lovely mirror!
I’m the one who was asking, so who am I to answer? However, I’ll throw out that the silver I know to be silver plate looks a bit whiteish. The silver / nickel plating is darker. That is the reason I don’t think my bowl is silver plate.
Your photos could just be dark, but it doesn’t look like silver plate.
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Thank you both. I think a kit is the way to go and having one would just save a lot of questions. Good advise.
I do suspect this mirror is nickle silver just based on the fact that there are no markings and what other types of pieces of nickle silver that I have seen on line.
I will do the test and report back.
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I too have a question along these lines. So if you have a piece with the 925 hallmark is it solid silver or could it still be just plated. If you test a piece of unmarked silver and it is positive how do you know if its just plated or if it is solid?
Thanks in advance,
Rhonda-
Things as far as objects go are just not made out of “solid silver” for the same reason that not much is made out of “solid gold”. Gold is made in a “mixture” form like 10kt, 14kt, 24kt because solid gold is soft soft that any object made from pure gold would bend, break, etc., etc. The mixture allows the material to be firm and stable enough for mfg. objects from yet carry large amounts of gold. Same thing applies to silver.
Maybe give this link a try. It is a discussion [thread] that has been going on for a long time. It covers a lot of territory on this topic.
https://www.finishing.com/204/43.shtml
Your question already has the answer. If it is unmarked no .925 which is 92.5 percent silver, then it is not considered all silver and is probably plated or chromed. I belive that all “pure silver or high content silver” that is imported into the united states needs to be stamped as such and maybe made in the USA. Here is a link that may help you research your question further.
Hope these links help you out.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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The 925 mark is called sterling silver. It is 92.5% silver and the rest are other metals, mostly copper. The other metals make the silver more durable. Pure silver is too soft to be of any use as a household item.
I did have an item once marked with a slightly different number, I think 950, which is just a higher silver content. Sometimes the item is just stamped “Sterling”, and you can assume 925.
Mike – Thanks for the link discussing this issue.
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