Reading Silver Hallmarks: Sterling vs. Plate

Nine out of ten “silver” pieces at a Wisconsin estate sale are plate. The marks on the back tell you which tenth you’re holding — and the words that sound most like silver are the ones that mean it isn’t.

The words that mean sterling

“Sterling,” “Ster,” or “925” on American pieces means 92.5% silver — that’s the money mark. “Coin” or “900” marks earlier American silver (roughly pre-1870, melted-coin stock, 90% silver) and often collects a premium for age. On British pieces, look for the lion passant — a small walking lion — which is Britain’s sterling guarantee, alongside a city mark (anchor = Birmingham, crown = Sheffield, leopard’s head = London) and a date letter that can pin the year exactly.

The words that mean plate

This is where sellers get fooled, in both directions. EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), EP, “Silver on Copper,” “Quadruple Plate,” “Community Plate,” and A1 all mean a microscopic silver skin over base metal. The cruelest trick: “1847 Rogers Bros.” — 1847 is a brand founding date, not a year, and every piece of it is plate. Same energy: “German silver,” “nickel silver,” and “alpaca” contain zero silver at all.

Physical tells when marks are worn

Plate gives itself away at the wear points: check high spots, edges, and the backs of spoon bowls for a warmer yellow or gray base metal showing through. Real silver wears into a soft glow instead of a color change, and it tarnishes black-purple rather than flaking. A magnet is a one-way test — sticking means steel core (plate), but not sticking proves nothing, since good plate sits on copper or brass.

Weighted, and other asterisks

“Sterling Weighted” or “Reinforced” on candlesticks and trumpet vases means a thin sterling shell over pitch or cement — real sterling, but scrap value is a fraction of what the heft suggests. And on flatware sets, always check every piece: sets get married over the decades, and one sterling ladle hides in a drawer of Rogers plate more often than you’d think.