800 Silver

800 silver denotes a silver alloy made up of exactly 800 parts per thousand - that is 80 per cent by weight - of pure silver. The remaining 20 % is mostly copper, which improves mechanical strength and workability. Across much of continental Europe, 800 silver was for decades the legal minimum standard for silverware, and it remains the alloy most often encountered in heirlooms, old stock and flea-market finds. You can calculate the current silver price and the melt value of a specific piece online at any time.

Hallmarks and identifying marks

In Germany 800 silver was traditionally stamped with the crescent-and-crown mark, a symbol that since 1888 has denoted assayed silverware and guaranteed the buyer a state-controlled fineness figure. Alongside it one often finds the plain number 800, sometimes joined by the maker's mark or the mark of a refinery.

Distinguishing it from other silver alloys

800 silver is deliberately set apart from other common alloys:

• 835 silver (835): common in post-war European cutlery; a slightly higher silver share and a marginally brighter tone.
• Sterling silver (925): the international standard for jewellery and modern table silver; a noticeably softer tone and a higher fineness.
• Britannia silver (958): a British high standard, near-pure silver, very soft.
• Fine silver (999): an investment metal (coins, bars), scarcely suited to everyday objects.

The lower silver share of the 800 grade makes the alloy harder and more hard-wearing - ideal for cutlery in daily use - but also produces a slightly warmer, faintly yellow-grey tone and heavier tarnishing than higher-grade alloys.

Calculating the melt value

You can work out the metal value of an 800 silver piece with the following formula:

Melt value = weight (g) x 0.800 x silver price (EUR/g)

Example: 100 g of 800 cutlery silver at a silver price of EUR 0.95/g gives a melt value of EUR 76.00. It is more convenient with the melt value calculator or the silver calculator, which fold in the day's live price automatically. A dealer's actual buying price is usually 10-25 % below this, since testing, melting and handling costs arise.

Tax treatment

For a private seller in Ireland, any gain on the sale of 800 scrap silver is chargeable to Capital Gains Tax at 33 %, after the annual personal exemption of EUR 1,270. There is no holding-period relief - unlike Germany, where a holding period of more than one year under Paragraph 23 EStG makes the gain tax-free, Irish CGT applies however long the piece was held.

On the VAT side: silver is not investment gold and is therefore not VAT-exempt. In Ireland, silver carries the standard VAT rate of 23 %. When a dealer buys second-hand silver from a private person, the margin scheme may be applied, so that VAT falls only on the trade margin rather than the full selling price. This is not tax advice - for specific questions please consult the Revenue Commissioners (revenue.ie) or a qualified adviser.

Typical areas of use

800 silver is found above all in:

1. Cutlery and tableware - spoons, forks, knives, trays (the main use in Germany and Austria until around 1980)
2. Jewellery - rings, chains, brooches; rarer today, as sterling (925) dominates the market
3. Early 20th-century silverware - teapots, sugar bowls, candlesticks
4. Middle East and North Africa - where 800 silver is still widespread as a jewellery alloy

In brief

At 80 % silver, 800 silver is the classic European everyday alloy for cutlery and tableware - recognisable by the crescent, crown and the number 800. Anyone who owns or buys scrap silver should know the weight and the current silver price to gauge the real metal value reliably.