Is my silverware real silver?

Check the back of the handle

• STERLING, STER, or 925: sterling silver, 92.5% silver. American sterling usually shows the maker's name or mark too.
• COIN or PURE COIN: older American coin silver, about 90% silver.
• 800, 830, or 835: European silver; see 800 silver.
• EP, EPNS, A1, "silver plate", or "quadruple plate": silver plate. So is a set with a maker's name and no STERLING or 925.
• "Nickel silver", "German silver", or stainless: no silver.

Marks can be small and worn; use a magnifier and good light. See how to read silver stamps.

Other clues

• Wear: plated forks and spoons wear through to yellowish or gray metal at the tips and on the back of the bowl. Sterling wears but stays silver all the way through.
• Magnet: sterling isn't magnetic, and neither is most plate, so a magnet only rules out steel.
• Tarnish: sterling tarnishes, but so does plate, so tarnish alone proves nothing.

Knives and weighted pieces

Sterling dinner knives usually have hollow sterling handles filled with cement or resin, and steel blades. The silver in a knife is a thin shell. Sterling candlesticks and some serving pieces are weighted the same way. They still count; they just hold less silver than their weight suggests.

What sterling flatware is worth

Silver is trading at $50.10 per troy ounce (the Kitco bid). We pay 80% of the silver content for sterling flatware: $1.19 per gram of solid sterling today. A sterling fork of about 40 grams comes to $47.68. Some patterns and makers sell for more to collectors and replacement services than their silver. See sterling flatware and how to sell silverware.

Scrap prices are per gram of metal after melting, not per gram of what you send. Stones are removed, and dirt, glue, springs, and anything else that isn't gold or silver burn off or separate out, so the weight paid is usually less than your scale shows.

Silver guides: Is silver plate worth anything? · Silver stamps · Is my silver real? · How to test silver · Sterling hollowware · All guides

We pay more for silver than pawn shops and jewelers, at a published percentage of the Kitco bid. The best place to sell silver