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Gyrogami Blog - Precious Metals, Jewelry, Artwork

Silverplated or Sterling - Part 1

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Sometimes it's best to assume the (mostly silver but sometimes gold) you are buying is fake for one reason or another. Sellers make many mistakes like "testing it" positive for sterling silver when there is a silverplate mark or just assuming because their mother said it was.

Sterling silver is easy to identify. Aside from blatant fraud, mistruths occur when sellers neglect to do any research regarding their item. This includes professionals like antique dealers, jewelers, coin stores, and pawn shops who misidentify silver more often than they should.

Most countries use unique hallmarks for gold and silver (all precious metals, really). Each country has a silver standard that may be different from 0.925. British silver was 0.958 for a while, some countries use 0.835, others 0.900, a few dabble with 0.935, and on and on. There are thousands of different symbols for purity, location, date, and more. Most of the stuff in the USA will have markings with STERLING, STERLING SILVER, 925/1000, and 925 SILVER.

Sterling silver has a legal definition which precludes ANY silverplated item from being called sterling ANYTHING. Any silver item with 70% or more silver content is generically referred to as sterling though it's sometimes called 830 sterling (for 83.0% silver content), 900 sterling (90.0% silver), etc. It's best, however, to say 830 silver and 900 silver and not sterling unless it is at least 92.5% pure. Even a piece of 0.999+ fine silver bullion can legally be called sterling.

Copper is usually the remainder of the metal but there may be nickel, zinc, tin, and germanium. Older or suspect silver may have cadmium and/or other toxic metals, mainly in the solder. It doesn't matter what the other metals are as long as their weights/percentages comply with the law.

Silverplated items can have many different hallmarks and some of them mimic real silver. It looks fancy with five or six different stampings. Certainly it must be sterling silver...right? I suspect these were designed to fool people into thinking their base metal is the real deal. Sometimes it isn't even marked, leaving it up to the imagination of the newest owner.

If someone tries to sell you anything fake or misrepresented, get away. They are trying to rip you off, intentional or not doesn't matter. On-line auction sites are littered with them. They hide in plain sight at the local flea market and craft fairs. They are everyone and everywhere so know what and who you're buying from.

Posted by M: July 22, 2014

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