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How do I know if my silverplate pieces are copper based? [Colorado] 

November 12, 2007

I am attempting to sell some silverplate pieces. I was asked a very unusual question today from a prospective buyer and unfortunately do not know the answer. The question was "Is any of your silver copper based?" I have no clue as to how to go about answering this gentleman. If anyone can tell me how to determine if any of my pieces are copper based, I would then like to know if this is a good feature or one of less interest to a buyer. Would copper based silverplate have more value? I truly would appreciate any answers I could get.

JoAnne Kopetas
Retired homemaker - Golden, Colorado, USA

Better silverplate objects are copper or copper alloy based(brass,nickel silver).Low quality can be zinc alloy,tin alloy or even iron based(magnetic!).Copper /copper alloy based objects can be identified with nitric acid(put one drop on backside of object,after some time green coloured liqid must be formed/rinse well-sorry all simple tests are destructive-be careful,nitric acid is dangerous stuff).Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Zagreb, Croatia