How to tell plated vs. sterling silver serving tray?

A. Hi Donna. It isn't much of a simplification to say that silver plate is almost never worth anything at all, and that if the piece isn't marked "Sterling", it's not. Take whatever isn't marked "Sterling"" to Goodwill or a place like that.

As for the sterling, you can't ride 2 blocks here in southern NJ without seeing the "We buy gold" signs and banners -- and they all buy sterling; give a couple of them a call.

This technical site doesn't name companies because as soon as there is commercial value to a posting we are drowned under spam, and there are truly a hundred such places in a 10-mile radius from you. Sorry, and best of luck.

Regards,

! Good Sir, I beg to differ with you. To say send the plate to Goodwill is a bit hasty is it not? Four times plate, three times, and so on? I have seen sets of plate that were breathtaking. When someone gets great-grandma's silver tea set complete, I say love it, care for it. It has value, most of all to the beholder. So you can slam me and plates but I think a wise man would agree.

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Hi Dave. No one is slamming you or great-grandma's silver plated tea set. I'm all for sentimental value, beauty, and art. I've said "enjoy it!" a hundred times on this and related threads. You and I agree that people should keep it, not melt it.

But Donna's question was what shop would buy her mother's silver plate -- an often repeated question here; and the answer remains that no shop will buy it.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
April 2016

A. Hi Tammy. It almost surely has no intrinsic scrap metal value if that's what you mean by "just a decorative piece". But enjoy it!

Regards,

A. Sheffield Plate is made by fusing about a 1/8" layer of pure silver to an ingot made from a copper alloy, usually nickel silver, which actually contains no silver. This sandwich is then rolled out or beaten to sheet of the desired thickness. Modern gold-filled is made in much the same way.

The object made from this sheet usually contains from 6% to 20% silver, by weight, depending on the quality. Standard Sheffield Plate runs about 8-9% silver by weight.

In essence, Sheffield Plate is a copper alloy base with very heavy silver plating on it. It's purpose was to offer an alternative to the much more expensive solid sterling silver.

A. Hi Adie. We appended your inquiry to one of several existing long threads on the topic, where you can investigate test methods, etc. But the short answer is that if it's not stamped "Sterling" or "925" the odds are very small that it is real silver. Unless it is very obviously very old, the odds are near zero. And silver plate is not worth anything significant as scrap.

Regards,

A. Hi Ann. There are many hundreds of thousands of different hallmarks and markings, and no hallmark has ever been identified on this site from a verbal description despite thousands being posted and the pages being read by a million people. Sorry.

But the short answer is (sorry to be the messenger of bad news) that unless it's sterling silver (and it's almost surely not if it isn't stamped "Sterling" or "925"), they are not worth anything at all. Please see letter 36471 "How to Test Silver at Home" where Phil Dreis of Antique Cupboard explains the situation in a youtube video. Good luck anyway :-)

Regards,

A. Hi Shelley. This site focuses on metal finishing, but for every metal finisher in the world there are a thousand people who find something interesting in grandma's attic or at a flea market, so some of the conversations drift away from our intended topic. We've posted your question, but sorry, I would have no knowledge of Godinger Mirror, Brush and Comb sets (except that there are dozens on eBay from $19 - $89), or any other antique or collectible. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hello Russell,
Ted answered to a similar question in Sept. Responders on this site are happy to help with finishing questions, but do not have the time to do extensive internet research on vintage or antique items. I would start with what you do know such as googling "Early Silver Community Trays" to find out more about it. If you want to know if it is Pure Sterling any pawn shop or good jeweler will test it for you.

Hi Donna. I think Mark's advice was good. This is a public forum focused primarily on metal finishing, not antique collecting. If curious collectors wish to help each other, we're happy to make the space available and to bring the needed traffic. But if everyone just posts their questions, and the collectors don't help each other, it's just going to be a long string of questions -- and that can get silly :-)

Regards,

A. Hi. It's plated, not sterling, so it has no intrinsic value (scrap value). You can take it to antique shops for valuation but, sorry to tell you, it's almost surely worth only its sentimental value. We've received hundreds and hundreds of letters, as have other sites, from people who want to sell such stuff, and zero (let that sink in) requests from people wanting to buy it. And if anybody did want to buy it, it's such a glut on the market that they can fill trunk loads with it essentially for free :-)

The listings you see on eBay are for what people want for it ($10-$20) but aren't getting.

Sorry.

Regards,

A. Hi Ethan. Where does the name "Triplex" come from, or what does it mean? I'd have guessed that it meant a triple layer of plating (probably copper, silver strike, silver plate). If that is where the name came from, it's certainly not solid silver.

Regards,

A. Hi Michelle. The easiest indicator is that if it's not stamped "Sterling" or "925", it is almost surely not sterling. A second indicator is the Essay silverplate for sale on eBay , and the lack of Essay sterling for sale there. There are, of course, chemical tests if you're not swayed by this. Good luck.

Enough, folks. As we saw coming earlier, this thread has deteriorated to "silly" with hundreds of people posting identifying markings but nobody identifying any. We'll post any answers that are submitted, but there is simply no point in posting additional questions unless we see people answering other poster's questions. Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Hi Shawn. Between not being marked "Sterling" and being marked "Quadruple", it certainly sounds like they are "quadruple plated" silverplate. So no intrinsic value from melting, and it's been all the news this year that your kids don't want this stuff; but maybe save them for your grandkids because trends come and go :-)

Regards,

Sterling_silver

A. Hi. Things that are marked sterling probably are.

Regards,

A. International Silver is almost always silver plate, when international Silver made sterling pieces , it was stamped as International Sterling. IS also means International Silver. Silver hall marking has been around since like the 800s. I believe in the 1300s Europe adopted a system, then in 1800 they condensed and merged everything to a universal system. For the US the standard for Sterling is .925 , S925, 92.5S, or 92.5. The US' hallmark was adopted in the 1800s so anything after and made in the US has to be stamped. Foreign pieces also for the most part are also stamped.

A. Hi Sheree. "Italy" no doubt means the country Italy. Which means you may have no basis for believing it to be silver, which is usually marked "sterling" or "925". Silver articles are almost always quite thin, rather than thick-walled like this. Far more likely that it's pewter (no intrinsic value). Sorry.

You can invest in testing equipment on the slim chance if you wish.

Regards,

A. Hi Chuck. The bad news first:
- Millions & millions of families have old servingware items in their basement, attic, or garage, and the overwhelming majority of it is without value; many church sales and Goodwill-style outlets won't even accept it.
- Nobody cares what is in someone else's attic when they have stuff in their own that they haven't bothered with, so the public participation on these questions has been virtually non-existent; over the years we've averaged less than one response per hundred posted questions about "silver" items :-(

The good news is that:
- "We Buy Gold!" stores who will test your tray for valuable metals have sprung up on every 3rd corner across the country.
- There are numerous "virtual appraisal" websites on google who will, for a fee, try to tell you what you've got.

My first question, and probably anyone's would be: you called it "silver". But do you merely mean that, to your eye, it is generally silvery in color, or do you have a reason to believe that it actually is silver? Pictures go only so far, and this one is in rather poor focus, and I'm not seeing a good reason to believe it isn't aluminum or pewter or silverplate. It could even be solid tin or pressed zinc, which would be interesting. Please take it to a "We Buy Gold" and tell us what they say. Good luck.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Bil. Hate to be the messenger of bad news to you and to several others posting here with the same piece, but there's currently a #4133 on eBay for $7.77 or best offer. Sorry, but virtually nobody today wants such stuff, and it was a very popular wedding gift for decades, so every second attic or basement has some, and it's worth essentially nothing.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Rebecca. We appreciate the clearer hallmark!
Please try the methods in this thread to determine whether your tray is sterling, silverplate, or something else, so it can be narrowed down a bit. Be warned though that every second or third attic has a carton full; nobody wants it, and it probably has no value.
Any idea what country the tray is from or its age? If you want to make a hobby of hallmarking, there are books that may give hints what the brush, the antlers, the knight's helmet and whatever, sometimes mean.
Luck & Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Very good download free book on hallmarks on silver plated and other base metal objects:
https://sha.org/assets/documents/Trademarks%20on%20Base-Metal%20Tableware.pdf

Another very good source of info:
https://www.925-1000.com/silverplate__menu.html
Hope it helps and good luck!
Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh