Silver Cutlery: Plated vs. Solid
Also: silver cutlery, EPNS, heavy silver-plate, 800 flatware, table silver
Solid silver cutlery is made entirely from a silver alloy, whereas silver-plated cutlery carries only a thin silver layer over a base-metal core.
Inherit an old canteen of cutlery, or spot one at a car-boot sale, and the same question comes up at once: is this valuable table silver, or merely plated metal? The difference in material value is enormous, and a few targeted checks are usually enough to settle it.
Solid silver cutlery
Solid silver cutlery is made of a silver alloy through and through. Across much of continental Europe the classic standard for table silver was a fineness of 800 ‰ (800 silver); in the English-speaking world sterling silver at 925 ‰ dominates. A single soup spoon in 800 silver typically weighs 40–60 g and therefore contains 32–48 g of pure silver — a genuine material value that moves with the current silver price.
The marking appears as a struck hallmark: numbers such as 800, 835 or 925, or the British lion (lion passant) for sterling. Where no hallmark is present, treat the piece with caution.
Silver-plated cutlery
Plated cutlery carries only an electrodeposited silver layer over a base substrate — most often nickel silver (a copper-nickel-zinc alloy), and less commonly brass or steel. The coating is usually 10–30 micrometres thick.
Common abbreviations and stamps:
| Mark | Meaning |
|---|---|
| EPNS | Electroplated Nickel Silver |
| EPBM | Electroplated Britannia Metal |
| A1 / A | Quality grade of the plating |
| 90 | 90 g silver per 12 pieces (standard plate) |
| 100 | 100 g silver per 12 pieces |
| Heavy plate | at least 40 g per 24 pieces (~1.7 g/piece) |
The silver content of a single plated spoon is around 0.1–0.5 g — so the pure material value is negligible.
Telling them apart
- Check the hallmark: solid silver bears an official fineness mark (800, 835, 925). Plated cutlery usually shows a maker's abbreviation (EPNS, Rogers) or simply no silver marking at all.
- Watch for wear: at heavily used points (inner handle, spoon rim) the yellowish or grey base metal shows through on a plated piece.
- Magnet test: nickel silver and brass are not magnetic — but neither is solid silver. A positive magnet test points to a steel core (rare, and then certainly plated).
- Weight: pieces of the same size in solid 800 silver are slightly heavier than nickel-silver ones, because silver (10.49 g/cm³) is denser than nickel silver (~8.7 g/cm³).
- Acid test / authenticity check: a drop of silver test acid on a discreet spot gives the characteristic red colour for 800 silver and a stronger red for 925. On a plated piece, once the coating is worn away, the base metal shows through.
Working out the melt value
Melt value = weight (g) × fineness (‰ / 1000) × silver price (EUR/g)
Example: an 800 spoon weighing 50 g, with a silver price of EUR 0.90/g:
50 g × 0.800 × 0.90 EUR/g = 36.00 EUR
You can work out the exact figure with the melt-value calculator or the silver calculator.
Buying and recovery
Dealers buy solid silver cutlery as scrap silver at melt value, less a deduction for refining and margin. Plated cutlery is rarely bought for its metal — at best it changes hands as a collectible or decorative item. The purchase-price calculator gives useful guide figures. Note: this article is not tax or investment advice.
In brief
Solid silver cutlery bears an official fineness hallmark (800, 835, 925) and has a genuine material value — plated cutlery holds only traces of silver over a base-metal core and is worth almost nothing in metal terms. The hallmark is what decides.