How to Tell Sterling Silver From Silver Plate at Home

The quick answer: read the mark first

Turn the piece over and look for a mark. In the United States, sterling silver is almost always marked "Sterling", "Ster", "925" or ".925", sometimes with the maker's name or symbol beside it. Silver plate is marked with the maker's name alone, or with letters such as "EP", "EPNS", "EPWM", "A1", "Silverplate", "Quadruple plate" or "Plated". A piece with no mark at all is most likely plate, though there are exceptions among older and foreign pieces.

That single check settles most of the drawer. Sterling is a solid alloy, 92.5 percent silver all the way through, and has a metal value even as scrap. Plate is a base metal, usually copper, brass or nickel silver, with a thin layer of silver bonded to the surface, and the silver on it is far too thin to recover. The difference in value is large, so go through every piece rather than judging the drawer at once; a sterling ladle in a plated service is common.

The rest of this guide covers the marks in more detail, the tests for a piece with no readable mark, and what each kind is actually worth. For the wider question of whether a formal dining room's contents sell at all, see is grandmother's china, crystal and silver worth anything.

How to read the marks on silver

Marks are small, worn and often in the least convenient spot: the back of a spoon handle, the underside of a tray near the rim, inside the foot of a bowl, on the base of a candlestick. Use a magnifying glass or the zoom on a phone camera in good light, and tilt the piece until the stamp catches the light.

Three things catch people out. A maker known for sterling also made plate, and marked each honestly, so the name alone does not tell you which you have. The word "silver" in a maker's or a pattern name means nothing about the metal; "German silver", "nickel silver" and "Nevada silver" contain no silver at all. And a mark can be faked on anything valuable, which is one reason to run the other tests on any piece that would be worth a lot if the mark is right. The guide to fakes and reproductions covers the categories where that happens.

The magnet test

Silver is not magnetic, and neither are copper, brass or nickel silver, so a magnet does less than people hope. What it does do is rule out one whole class of plate. A strong magnet (a fridge magnet is not strong enough; a small rare-earth magnet from a hardware store is) that sticks firmly to the piece means the base is steel or iron, and the piece is plated, whatever the mark says.

A magnet that does not stick tells you nothing on its own. Plate over copper or nickel silver passes the magnet test exactly as sterling does, and that is what most older American plate is. So use the magnet as a first pass to pull out the obvious rejects, then rely on the marks and the tests below for everything that passes.

Weight, wear, sound and tarnish

With a piece that has no readable mark, or a mark you doubt, four ordinary observations get you most of the way.

• Wear-through. The most reliable sign of plate. Look at the high points that get rubbed: the tip and back of a spoon bowl, the edges of a tray, the raised parts of a chased pattern, the feet. Plate wears through to a different metal, and you will see a pinkish or yellowish patch of copper or brass, or a grayish base metal, showing under the silver. Sterling is the same color all the way down and simply gets thinner.
• Weight. Sterling hollowware is generally lighter than the same piece in plate, because plate is built on a heavy base metal, and sterling flatware feels dense and balanced in the hand in a way plated flatware does not. Handle a known sterling spoon and a known plated one side by side and the difference is quickly learned, though it is not conclusive alone.
• Sound. Tap a sterling piece gently with a fingernail or a pencil and it rings with a clear, sustained note. Plate over base metal gives a duller, shorter sound. Weighted sterling gives a thud, because of the filler.
• Tarnish. Sterling tarnishes to a dark gray or black that polishes to a bright white. Plate often shows a bluish or greenish cast where the copper beneath is corroding.

Jewelers and refiners use an acid test, a drop of a nitric acid solution on a small scratch, to confirm purity; it leaves a mark and is best left to them. Any jeweler, coin dealer or refiner will test a piece in a minute, and many will do it free if you are considering selling.

What sterling silver is worth

A sterling piece has two possible values, and you sell it for whichever is higher.

Metal value. The floor. Silver is traded by the troy ounce (about 31.1 grams), and a refiner or a coin dealer pays a percentage of the day's price for the silver content, which for sterling is 92.5 percent of the weight. Weigh the piece in grams on a kitchen scale, divide by 31.1 for troy ounces, multiply by 0.925 for the silver content, then by the day's spot price, and then expect an offer somewhat below that figure because the buyer has to refine it and make a margin. The price of silver moves daily, so there is no standing number to quote; check it on the day. Knives are the exception: most sterling knives have a sterling handle over a filler with a steel blade, and buyers pay only for the small amount of silver in the handle. Weighted candlesticks and compotes are the same, and are worth much less than they weigh.

Value as an object. Often higher than metal, sometimes far higher. A complete flatware service in a pattern that is still collected, pieces by a well-known American, British or European silversmith, early coin silver, hand-wrought Arts and Crafts pieces, Georgian and Victorian hollowware, and Mexican and Scandinavian modernist silver all sell for more than their weight, to collectors and to pattern-matching dealers who supply people completing a set. The way to know is to search the pattern name and the maker in sold listings and auction results, which the guide to finding out if something is valuable walks through.

Any figure you arrive at is a range, and it depends on condition, maker and local demand as well as the silver price that week. Monograms lower the value of most flatware to collectors, though not to the refiner. Dents, splits and repairs lower hollowware. A complete set with its original chest is worth more than the same pieces loose.

What silver plate is worth

Very little as metal, and usually little as an object. The silver on a plated piece is measured in microns, so a refiner will not buy it, and the base metal is worth scrap-brass money at best. Ordinary plated flatware, trays and tea services from the twentieth century sell at estate sales for small sums, often by the box on the last day, and much of it goes to donation. Families find this hard to believe, because it was expensive and it still looks like silver.

There are exceptions, and they are worth knowing:

• Old Sheffield plate, the eighteenth and early nineteenth century fused plate, is collected in its own right and can be worth real money in good condition. Look for a seam where the silver sheet was rolled over the copper edge, and for copper showing through in a warm glow rather than in patches.
• Plated pieces by well-known makers and designers, particularly Victorian novelty pieces, Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs, and mid-century modern hollowware, sell as decorative objects.
• Large, handsome, usable pieces such as a big tray, a punch bowl, a champagne bucket or a three-tier stand sell to people who want them for what they are, at prices that reflect that.
• Complete plated flatware services in good condition sell to people who want a full set for the table without paying for sterling, and to pattern-matching dealers for some patterns.

Plate with heavy wear-through, mismatched pieces and the standard plated tea service in average condition are what fill the bargain table. Price them to sell. The guide to what sells best at estate sales puts this in context with the rest of the house.

How to sell silver from an estate

Sort into three piles, and each pile has a different best route.

1. Sterling worth more than its weight. Named makers, collected patterns, early or unusual pieces, a full service in its chest. These go to a specialist auction, a silver dealer, or a company that knows silver and will price them individually at the sale. For a large or important collection, the auction route is discussed in estate sale versus auction.
2. Sterling worth its weight. Odd pieces, worn or monogrammed flatware in an unpopular pattern, damaged hollowware. Weigh it, check the silver price, and get quotes from a refiner or two and a coin dealer rather than the first walk-in gold buyer you pass. Keep the knives and weighted pieces in a separate pile, since they are priced differently.
3. Plate. To the estate sale floor, priced to move, with any Sheffield or designer pieces pulled out first.

Two practical points. Silver is small, valuable and easy to pocket, so during a sale it belongs in a case or at the cashier's table, not spread on the dining table; the guide to estate sale security explains how companies handle it. And if the estate is in probate, or several relatives have an interest, write down what was sold, to whom and for how much, because silver is exactly the kind of item that produces a question later. Rules on estate property vary by state, and this is not legal advice; an attorney handling the estate can say what records are needed.

What to do next

Empty the silver drawer and the sideboard onto a towel in good light, read every mark with a magnifier, run the magnet over anything unmarked, and look at the high points for wear-through. Weigh the sterling, set aside anything with a maker or a pattern worth researching, and keep it all somewhere safe until it is sold.

If the house has more in it than a silver drawer, describe the estate once and local estate sale companies will reach out to you, free. Ask each one how it sorts and prices silver and whether it sends important pieces to auction. The guides to overlooked treasures and valuing antiques and collectibles cover what else in the house deserves the same attention.

Frequently asked questions