The quickest way to tell sterling silver from silver plate is to read the marks on the back of a fork handle or the base of a teapot. American sterling is stamped STERLING or 925, usually beside the maker’s name or symbol. Silver plate is marked with words such as EPNS, EP, A1, Quadruple Plate, Silverplate or a company name like 1847 Rogers Bros. with no sterling stamp. British sterling carries a hallmark with a lion or a 925 in a shield. When there are no marks, wear patterns and a simple acid or XRF test settle it.
The difference matters because sterling is 92.5 percent silver all the way through and is valued by weight, while plate is a thin skin of silver over a base metal and has little metal value. A full sterling service for twelve can hold many troy ounces of silver. A plated set of the same size is worth what someone will pay to use it or collect it. This article goes through the marks you are likely to see, the clues on unmarked pieces, and the traps in weighted and hollow-handled items.
American sterling marks
In the United States, the word “sterling” is reserved for silver of at least 925 parts per thousand. The Federal Trade Commission’s jewelry guides set that 925 threshold for “sterling” and related terms, and the National Stamping Act bars silver plated articles from being stamped “sterling” or “coin”. So a genuine American STERLING stamp is a strong signal.
Typical American marks look like this:
- STERLING in capitals, often with a pattern patent date or pattern name.
- 925 or .925, more common on modern and imported pieces.
- Maker’s mark. Gorham used a lion, an anchor and a capital G. Tiffany & Co. pieces are marked with the company name and STERLING. Reed & Barton, Towle, Wallace, International, Kirk and many others used their own names and symbols.
- COIN, PURE COIN, STANDARD, DOLLAR or PREMIUM on older American pieces made before sterling became the national standard. These indicate coin silver, generally around 900 parts per thousand, still solid silver.
On hollowware, the marks are usually on the underside, sometimes with a pattern number and a capacity. On flatware they sit on the back of the handle.
British and European hallmarks
British silver is hallmarked by an assay office after testing. A traditional English sterling hallmark has a lion walking to the left with one paw raised, called the lion passant, plus a town mark (a leopard’s head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a crown or later a rose for Sheffield), a date letter and a maker’s mark. Scottish offices used their own standard marks. A Britannia figure indicates the higher Britannia standard of 958 parts per thousand. Modern UK hallmarks show the fineness as a number, 925 or 958, in a shaped shield.
Continental Europe used different standards and symbols:
- 800 was common in Germany, often with a crescent moon and crown, and in Italy.
- 830 appears on much Scandinavian silver.
- 835 is frequent on Dutch and some German and Austrian pieces.
- France used a profile head of Minerva, with a number 1 for the 950 standard and 2 for the 800 standard.
- Russia marked fineness in zolotniks, with 84 equal to about 875 parts per thousand.
- Mexico pieces are often stamped 925 or STERLING with MEXICO and an assay eagle.
All of these are solid silver, just at a different purity from sterling. The math for each is covered in our post on what .999, .925 and 90 percent silver mean.
Silver plate marks
Plated ware usually announces itself in its marks, once you know the words.
| Mark | What it means | Silver content |
|---|---|---|
| EPNS | Electroplated nickel silver: silver plated over a copper, nickel and zinc alloy | A thin surface layer only |
| EP, EPC, EPBM | Electroplated, on copper, or on Britannia metal (a pewter-type alloy) | A thin surface layer only |
| A1, AA, XII, Extra, Double, Triple, Quadruple Plate | Grades of plating thickness used by American makers | Still plate; thicker plating does not make it sterling |
| Silverplate, Silver Plated, Silver on Copper | Plated | A thin surface layer only |
| Nickel Silver, German Silver, Alpaca | A copper, nickel and zinc alloy | No silver at all unless plated |
| 1847 Rogers Bros., Wm. Rogers, Community, Holmes & Edwards | Well known makers of plated flatware | Plated, unless separately marked STERLING |
| Sheffield, Sheffield Plate, Sheffield Reproduction | Usually plated; antique Old Sheffield Plate is silver fused onto copper | A surface layer only |
Watch for pseudo-hallmarks. Many nineteenth and twentieth century plated pieces carry small stamped symbols arranged to look like British hallmarks: shields, letters, a lion or a crown. They look official but lack the specific combination of a real assay office mark, standard mark and date letter. An experienced silver buyer can usually spot them, especially when a word like EPNS sits nearby.
Note also that “Sheffield” by itself on a modern tray is a place name, not a purity mark. Sheffield was a center for both sterling and plate.
Clues on pieces with no clear marks
Marks wear off, sit under a monogram, or were never applied on some older and foreign work. A buyer then looks for other evidence.
- Wear-through. On plate, the high points of a spoon bowl, the tips of fork tines and the edges of a tray often show a yellowish or pinkish base metal where the silver layer has worn away. Sterling wears but stays silver-colored all the way through.
- Tarnish color. Both sterling and plate tarnish. A greenish tinge in crevices can point to exposed copper or brass under worn plate.
- Seams and construction. Cheap plated hollowware is often spun thin and soldered with visible seams. This is a clue, not proof.
- Magnet. Neither sterling nor typical plate is magnetic. A strong pull points to steel, usually in a knife blade or a cheap base. A non-magnetic result proves nothing about silver content.
- Acid test. A small file mark in an inconspicuous spot and a drop of silver testing solution give a color reaction that shows solid silver. If the file cuts through to a different metal, it is plate.
- XRF analysis. An X-ray fluorescence analyzer reads the surface composition without damaging the piece. Buyers of New York uses XRF on silver, which is fast and leaves no mark.
Marks on jewelry and small silver items
Jewelry follows the same rules as flatware, with a few marks of its own. Solid silver jewelry is usually stamped 925, STERLING, STER or STG, often on the clasp tag or the inside of a ring band. Designer pieces add the house name, for example Tiffany & Co. with 925, or Georg Jensen with a design number. Vermeil, which is sterling with a gold plating, is still stamped 925 and is valued as sterling for its metal.
Plated jewelry is marked SP, SILVER PLATED or sometimes nothing at all, and “silver tone” in a listing means the piece only looks like silver. Be careful with very cheap imported jewelry stamped 925: stamps are not policed at the point of sale, and plated base metal with a false 925 stamp does exist. That is why a buyer tests every item rather than trusting a stamp. Small items such as thimbles, compacts, cigarette cases, napkin rings and baby cups were made in both sterling and plate, and the same marks apply.
Weighted, filled and hollow-handled pieces
Some sterling items contain far less silver than their weight suggests, and buyers adjust for it.
Hollow-handle knives
Most sterling dinner knives have a hollow sterling handle filled with cement or pitch and a stainless steel blade. The whole knife may weigh a few ounces, but only the thin handle shell is silver. A buyer either estimates the silver in the handles at a small fraction of the gross weight or prices knives separately. Some sets also have hollow-handled serving pieces, carving sets and cake servers.
Weighted candlesticks and bases
Candlesticks, compotes and some bowls are often stamped “Weighted”, “Reinforced” or “Cement Filled” under the base. The visible sterling is a thin shell over a heavy filling. A pair of candlesticks that feels heavy may hold only a few ounces of silver. Removing the filler is messy, so a buyer estimates.
Mixed materials
Teapots with wooden or ivory insulators, mirrors and brushes with sterling backs, glass bowls with sterling rims, and picture frames with wood or cardboard backs all hold less silver than they weigh. Only the silver is counted.
A worked example: valuing a flatware service
Suppose a family brings a sterling service with 12 dinner forks, 12 salad forks, 12 teaspoons, 12 soup spoons, 12 hollow-handle knives and a few serving pieces. The numbers below are hypothetical.
- The solid pieces (everything but the knives) weigh 70 troy ounces in total.
- At sterling’s 92.5 percent, that is 70 x 0.925 = 64.75 troy ounces of pure silver.
- If silver spot were $30 per troy ounce, the melt value of those pieces would be 64.75 x $30 = $1,942.50.
- The knives are handled separately, with the silver in their handles estimated at a fraction of their gross weight.
- The buyer’s offer is based on that silver content, and a sought-after pattern may be assessed for collector value above melt.
Silver spot changes every trading day, so look up a live price when you do your own sums. The Buyers of New York silver page explains that sterling is priced against live spot, weighed on certified scales, with the spot price, weight and purity shown before an offer is made.
When silver plate is still worth something
Plate has very little metal value, and most of it should not be sold as scrap. Some plated pieces do have a resale market as objects: well made Victorian and Edwardian hollowware, Art Deco designs, pieces from respected makers, hotel and ocean liner silver with documented history, and complete boxed sets in good condition. Buyers of New York says it assesses silverplate honestly for any antique or decorative value and tells you what you have before any offer. It will not pay sterling prices for plate, and no honest buyer will.
Cleaning before you bring it in
Do not polish hard or use abrasive pastes before an evaluation. Heavy polishing can blur marks, rub through worn plate and damage patina that collectors value on antique pieces. Tarnish does not reduce the metal value. A light wash with warm water and mild soap, then a soft towel, is enough.
What to bring and how to have silver tested
Bring the pieces, the chest or box for a flatware set, any receipts or inventory, and a government photo ID, which is required to sell. If you have a large service or a lot of hollowware, call (212) 642-4345 first so there is time to test and weigh everything.
Buyers of New York is at 30 W. 47th Street, Suite 8006, open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. Every piece is tested and weighed in front of you, and the evaluation is free with no obligation to sell. Read more about how sterling flatware and hollowware are valued, or see the live silver payout page for how coins, bars and scrap silver are priced.
More questions sellers ask
Is 'silver' alone on a piece the same as sterling?
Under US guidance the word silver used without qualification should mean at least 925 parts per thousand, but older and foreign pieces are not always reliable. A test settles it.
Is coin silver the same as sterling?
No. Coin silver is generally about 900 parts per thousand, slightly below sterling's 925. It is still solid silver and is valued on its silver content.
Does monogramming lower the value of sterling flatware?
It does not change the melt value. For pieces that might resell as usable flatware, a monogram can reduce demand slightly.
Does tarnish mean something is silver plate?
No. Sterling and plate both tarnish. The color under worn areas and the marks are better guides.
Is Tiffany & Co. silver always sterling?
Most Tiffany silver is sterling and marked as such, but the firm also made some items in other materials. Read the marks on each piece.