You have thirty seconds. The piece is in your hand, the seller is watching, and the price assumes it is sterling. Here is the decision tree professional dealers use.
Look for a number
A purity number (parts per thousand of silver) means solid silver, not plate:
- 925 : sterling. The international standard.
- 900 : continental or American coin silver.
- 835 , 800 : lower-grade continental silver, common on German, Italian, Dutch and Russian pieces.
- 958 : Britannia silver, higher purity than sterling.
Look for the lion
British sterling carries a lion passant (a lion walking, in profile). Britannia silver carries a seated female figure. Either one is a sterling-or-better guarantee, regardless of country marks elsewhere on the piece.
Plate marks to recognise immediately
If you see any of the following, the piece is silver-plated base metal, not solid silver:
- EPNS : electroplated nickel silver. Silver plate over a nickel-silver alloy base.
- EPBM : electroplate on Britannia metal. Silver plate over a tin-antimony base.
- A1 , AA , AAA : plate-thickness grades, never used on solid silver.
- SILVER ON COPPER or SHEFFIELD PLATE : pre-electroplate fused silver layer.
- NS , GERMAN SILVER , NICKEL SILVER : contain no silver at all.
The trap: makers who did both
Reed & Barton, Wallace, International, Gorham, Towle and Oneida all produced both sterling and plate. Seeing a recognised silversmith's name proves nothing on its own. Find the purity mark or the lion before you commit.
The other trap: missing marks
Heavy use, polishing, or a worn underside can rub a mark down to nothing. A piece with no marks at all is treated as plate by every dealer, every time. The exception is acid-test or XRF verification, which is what auction houses do for unmarked pieces of suspected high value.
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