solid silver

American Silver Reading American Silver Hallmarks
1

I have heard of sterling siilver and silver plate. However, I was recently given a bowl which is marked “solid silver” and am unfamiliar with this term. Can anyone provide information?

Thanks,

George

2

Hi George and thanks for joining us here on silver-collector.com. The term “solid silver” is not a commonly used marking, and one would presume that it denotes that the bowl is not silver plated. That being said, the term does not tell us the purity of the “solid silver” . British and American sterling silver is generally an alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% another metal, usually copper. Continential silver is 80% silver and some Dutch silver is 83.3%. A good bit of French and Japanese silver is 95% silver.

Are there any other marks on the bowl?

Regards,

Uncle Vic

3

Thanks, Uncle Vic. I’ve taken 3 photos, but have been unable to attach them to this reply so far, but I’m still working on it. The “solid Silver” marking is on the bottom outside of the bowl. The inside appers to be “gold washed”. The markings along the base appear to be:

  1. half or quarter moon
  2. crown
  3. 800
  4. WTB, with T slightly higher that W & B, like a monogram

Thanks again,

George

4

George, those would be German marks (crescent & crown) for 800 or 80% silver. I’m not well equipped with books for the German maker’s marks, but will take a look at what I have. Perhaps other readers can help?

You are welcome to email me the pictures direct if you cannot get them to load on the site. royvictor@cox.net

Regards,

Uncle Vic

5

George, those would be German marks (crescent & crown) for 800 or 80% silver. I’m not well equipped with books for the German maker’s marks, but will take a look at what I have. Perhaps other readers can help?

You are welcome to email me the pictures direct if you cannot get them to load on the site. royvictor@cox.net

Regards,

Uncle Vic

6

Thanks. I’ll try to load the pictures once more. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll email directly to you later today.

George

7

George,

to add your pictures, you use the add attachment box below the main box where you type your post.

Click ‘browse’ add find the image on your computer. Afterwards, make sure you click ‘add attachment.’

Good luck!

8

Here are the pictures.

George
solid silver bowl 003.jpg
solid silver bowl 001.jpg

9

WTS is maker’s mark for Wilhelm Binder.