Is my silver real? Sterling vs silver plate

Solid silver versus plate

Sterling silver is an alloy that is 92.5 percent pure silver all the way through. Silver plate is a different thing entirely: a base metal object, usually nickel silver or copper, coated with a very thin layer of silver by electroplating. The two can look identical when polished. The value could hardly be more different, because a plated spoon might carry a fraction of a gram of actual silver, while a solid sterling spoon is silver through and through.

Marks that mean solid silver

Irish and British solid silver is normally hallmarked. On Irish pieces, look for the Hibernia mark and the harp, struck by the Assay Office in Dublin. On British pieces, look for the lion passant, a walking lion, alongside the mark of an assay office such as the anchor for Birmingham or the leopard's head for London. Modern pieces from both countries often carry the number 925, the millesimal fineness of sterling. Continental silver uses numbers such as 800 or 830, which are lower but still solid silver standards.

Marks that mean plate

Plate has its own vocabulary, and it is designed to look reassuring. EPNS stands for electroplated nickel silver, and EP, EPBM, A1, Sheffield Plate and "silver on copper" all mean plated as well. Confusingly, the words nickel silver and German silver describe an alloy that contains no silver at all. If a piece carries any of these marks, it is plate, no matter how heavy or well made it feels.

Home checks, and their limits

A few quick checks help you sort a mixed box. A strong magnet should not attract solid silver, though it also ignores many base metals, so it only rules items out. Wear points tell a story on plate: check ridges, handle edges and high spots for a different colour showing through where the thin silver layer has rubbed away. Solid silver tarnishes to grey and black but never shows a brassy undertone. None of these checks is conclusive on its own, and none will tell you the fineness of a solid piece.

How testing settles it

XRF analysis reads the elemental make-up of the metal at the surface in seconds, without cutting, filing or acid. It identifies sterling, continental standards and plate reliably, and it is how we test every item before pricing it. Solid silver is then priced by weight against the live silver price: you can see the current sterling and fine silver rates per gram on our prices page.

What to do with a mixed collection

Do not polish anything aggressively before selling, and do not separate pieces you are unsure about. Bring or describe the lot as it is. We test each piece in front of you, tell you plainly which items are plate, and price the solid silver at published rates with same-day payment. Start with photos and a short description on the sell page and we will tell you honestly what is worth your time.