How to tell if silver is real

Silver is trading at $49.25/ozt today, so sterling is worth about $1.46/g in melt value. Silver plate, on the other hand, is worth close to nothing as scrap, and most "silver" flatware in a family drawer is plate. These checks tell them apart.

Is 925 real silver?

Yes. 925 means 925 parts per thousand of pure silver, which is sterling: 92.5% silver, the rest usually copper for strength. You'll also see it as STERLING, STER or .925. On older European pieces you may find 800, 830 or 835, which are real silver too, just a lower standard.

A 925 stamp on very cheap jewelry can still be fake, so if the price was too good to be true, check it with the tests below.

Marks that mean silver plate

Plate is a thin layer of silver over a base metal, usually brass, copper or nickel silver. Look for:

• EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), EP, EPBM (electroplated Britannia metal)
• A1, Silver plate, Silver on copper, Quadruple plate (common on American hollowware)
• Nickel silver or German silver — despite the name, these alloys contain no silver at all

On flatware, plated lines often carry a maker's name and a year with no purity mark: "1847 Rogers Bros." is a well-known silver-plate brand, not a date it was made of sterling.

The magnet test

Silver isn't magnetic. If a strong magnet grabs the piece, it is steel or has a steel core. As with gold, a pass proves little: brass and copper don't stick either.

The ice test

Silver conducts heat better than any other metal. Put an ice cube on the piece and one on a steel or ceramic surface next to it: on solid silver, the ice starts melting almost at once, as if the metal were warm. It works best on flat, heavy pieces like trays and coins.

Look for wear

On plated pieces the silver wears off where hands and polishing cloths rub: the backs of spoon bowls, the tips of fork tines, the edges of handles. A yellow, coppery or grey metal showing through means plate. Sterling stays silver-colored however worn it is.

Silverware: sterling or plate?

• Spoons and forks marked STERLING are solid silver through and through.
• Knives are the exception: sterling knives usually have a hollow silver handle filled with cement and a stainless steel blade. Only the handle shell is silver, so a knife is worth far less than its weight suggests.
• Teapots, trays and candlesticks are more often plate than sterling. Sterling candlesticks are frequently weighted with filler in the base.

Want to know what the other marks on your piece mean? See the hallmark guide, or use Read the mark from a photo in the calculator.