What "sterling" means
Sterling is an alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metal (usually copper), solid all the way through. Silverplate is a base metal — copper, brass, nickel silver — with a thin layer of silver bonded to the outside. They can look identical on a sideboard. One is worth its weight in silver and often much more as an object; the other is worth what someone will pay for the object alone, which for most plated flatware is very little.
Step one: read the marks
Look on the underside of hollowware, the back of a fork or spoon handle, the rim of a tray. You'll usually need a magnifying glass and good light. Marks that mean sterling:
- STERLING or STER — the standard American mark since the late 1800s, often with a maker's name or symbol.
- 925, .925 or 925/1000 — the same standard, used by American, Mexican and modern makers worldwide.
- A lion passant (a lion walking, facing left) — the English sterling standard mark, usually alongside a town mark, a date letter and a maker's mark. Reading a full set of English hallmarks.
- COIN, PURE COIN, DOLLAR or STANDARD — American "coin silver," roughly 90% silver, made before sterling became the norm. Older, often more valuable. Many early coin pieces carry only the maker's name.
- 800, 830, 835, 900, 950 — Continental European standards in parts per thousand. Not technically "sterling" but solid silver, bought as such.
Marks that mean plate:
- EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), EP, EPBM, EPC.
- Silverplate, Silver plated, Plate, A1, Quadruple plate, Triple plate.
- Sheffield on anything made after about 1850 — modern "Sheffield" is a plating trade name, not the old fused Sheffield plate, which is unmarked and collected in its own right.
- A maker's name with no standard mark at all — "Wm. Rogers," "Oneida," "Community," "International Silver Co." on their own almost always mean plate. Confusingly, some of those makers also made sterling, which they marked STERLING. If it doesn't say so, assume it isn't.
- "Nickel silver" or "German silver" — contains no silver whatsoever.
Step two: the tells, when there's no mark
- Wear. Plate wears through at the high points — the bowl of a spoon, the edge of a tray, the tips of fork tines — showing yellowish brass or grey base metal. Sterling wears, but stays silver-colored all the way down.
- Weight and sound. Sterling hollowware is often lighter than the same shape in plated brass, and rings with a clearer, longer note when tapped. Neither test is proof.
- Tarnish color. Sterling tarnishes to a warm grey-black; plate can tarnish blotchy, or show green-blue copper corrosion at worn spots.
- The magnet. Silver isn't magnetic, but neither are brass, copper or nickel silver — so a magnet only rules out steel. It never confirms sterling.
- Seams and construction. Hand-raised sterling hollowware and cast handles look and feel different from stamped, seamed plated pieces. This one takes experience.
Tests to skip
Acid test kits will scar a piece and can't tell sterling from heavy plate at a scratch point. Don't file a notch in anything. Don't put ice on it. If the marks and tells leave you unsure, photograph the piece and its marks and ask someone who handles silver daily — we'll tell you for free, and we'll tell you if it's plate. Free evaluations.
Weighted sterling — the in-between case
Candlesticks, trumpet vases, compotes and trophies are often marked STERLING WEIGHTED or WEIGHTED. They're sterling on the outside with a thin skin over cement or pitch. The metal value is small; they're priced as decorative objects, and a good pair still sells. Just don't expect them to weigh in like a tea service.
Why it matters this much
A twelve-place sterling flatware service in a good pattern can be worth several thousand dollars; the same pattern in plate is worth a fraction. A sterling tea service is bought as an object with a floor set by its metal; a plated one is bought only as an object, and usually a modest one. Knowing which you have is the difference between a line on the estate inventory and a line in the donation box — and between a fair offer and a bad one. How we buy sterling, and how we price it.
One more time: don't polish it
Tarnish is not damage. Aggressive polishing rounds off the crisp detail that makes old silver worth more, and it can take the plate right off a plated piece and reveal the answer the hard way. Leave it as it is; we'll tell you what you have.