You are quite welcome, again. The 925-1000.com website is excellent and we here use it often. They continue to add material frequently and it is perhaps one of the better resources. You will find that here we like for you to post a clear, crisp, close-up photo of the maker’s marks as well as a photo of the entire item. This allows us to better identify not only the maker, but in many cases date the items and determine its silver content. English silver, of course, has “hallmarks” that are part of an ages-old legal system of assaying silver. These hallmarks allow not only identification of the maker, but the purity (92.5%), place assayed and the date. Most all American silver has no date marks. It is illegal in the U.S. to mark an item “sterling silver” if it is not at least 92.5% pure silver.
My view is that engraving enhances the appearance and value of sterling silver. Engraving is fast becoming a lost art - and silver is art, including the engraving. I would never, never attempt to remove well-done engraving from a sterling item. Others do not agree with me and I have seen some very nice sterling pieces virtually destroyed by inept removal attempts. In the resale market I see no value difference in most sterling items between thse artfully engraved and those without any engraving. Most of the very flowing and fancy monograms you can’t read anyway, so just pretend they are your initials…
Finally, most silver plated items have little or no commercial value and my view is they should just be put to daily use, enjoyed, and polished carefully as needed.
Regards,
Uncle Vic