Its amazing how often silverplate gets mistaken for solid silver. In the vast majority of cases, the following quick checks will let you determine for yourself whether your item is one or the other.
Look over the body of the item and see if you can find any markings (symbols, letters, words). If you find the letters E.P, E.P.N.S or E.P.B.M, your item is silverplate. E.P.N.S. stands for elctro-plated nickel and silver. E.P.B.M stands for electo-plated base metal.
If your item has the word ‘sterling’ on it, its solid silver and most probably American.
If your item has any of the following marks, then its solid silver and from the UK.
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[*]The Lion Passant for Sterling silver in England
The Lion Rampant for Sterling silver in Scotland
The Crowned Harp for Sterling Silver in Ireland
Britannia for Britannia silver in England and Scotland
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[]The next thing to try is cleaning the item! If you suspect that it might be silver-plate, use a liquid silver polish (see here for advice on cleaning silver), as this is the most gentle type. Once the item is thoroughly clean inspect it for signs of the base metal coming through. Most silverplate is either on nickel or on copper. Nickel has a washed out yellow color whilst copper is a more intense orangey colour. The high points are the places to look as these will have suffered the most ware. If you find yellow coloured metal as well as silver then the item is silver-plate except in one special case! It is also possible that the item is silver and has been gilt (gold-plated). Over time the gilt will be worn away and might leave traces of colour which you might mistake for nickel or copper. What you need to do is consider where the golden colour is found. If it is only at the high points then the item is probably plate. If it is only at the low points then the item was probably gilt.[/*:m][/list:o]
If the above checks don’t give you an answer, post some pictures on the forum and we’ll try to help!
Hi Jonathan,
I see that there are international standards for specialist usage where conduction and thickness are important. But I wondered if there were commonly accepted / understood percentages of silver in silver plated items in your industry, as the techniques evolved over 200 years. I have to say I am gobsmacked at the sheer number of silversmiths and makers in Britain historically, so I would have to assume consistency was a challenge.
As I go through family items it is quite striking how different the tarnishing is:
Sheffield EPNS cutlery with silver handle attachments and EPNS blades no tarnish - at all.
92.5% silver spoon I’ve had for 12+years and never polished, has only had minor tarnish on the back of the handle.
900 Egyptian silver pieces from the mid 1990s; one very ornate fruit bowl never stays clean for long, the other bowl requires some cleaning underneath only rarely.
A lot of what I thought to be the ‘cheaper’ stuff blackens and requires more upkeep.
Am I right in understanding that items marked nickel silver have no silver at all?
Very hard to know what you actually have in your hand, even with clear markings.
That’s the most common base, which is why the “EPNS” mark shows up all over the place - good combination of workability, strength, and cost. I think next up would be pure copper, which I believe is easier to work than nickel silver. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reference to pure nickel being used as a base for decorative objects - there must be a reason.
Jeff - How variable is the standard of Sterling silver which is supposed to be 92.5%?
When I see a wide range of items marked with the Lion Passant with hugely different tendency to tarnish, it makes me wonder.
Anything that’s been assayed by one of the U.K. assay offices, and marked as sterling, is pretty much guaranteed to be at least 92.5% pure silver.
But there are other things that can affect the rate at which pieces tarnish. For openers, the piece might have more pure silver - it might be 93% or 94% pure, which would tarnish more slowly. The 92.5% standard is a minimum, not a precise target.
The other variable, at least with more modern pieces, is what the other 7.5% consists of. Traditionally, it was all copper, and copper is the villain when it comes to tarnish. But in modern sterling, other trace minerals are sometimes added, in order to resist tarnish.
The biggest factor is usually the environment. A piece that’s in a cabinet might be exposed to more or less humidity. A piece that’s handled more frequently might tarnish more quickly.
But I know what you mean - I’ve had a few pieces that seemed to tarnish more quickly than any of their shelf mates, for no reason that I could determine.
