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.
Getting something out of what you see and read?
We put our whole heart into keeping preciousmetalprices.com fast, tidy and free — no paywalls, no clutter, just facts and live prices you can trust. If it’s any help to you, the nicest way to say thanks is to pass it along. Every share helps another investor find us and keeps the whole project ticking over. 💛
Getting something out of what you see and read?
We put our whole heart into keeping preciousmetalprices.com fast, tidy and free — no paywalls, no clutter, just facts and live prices you can trust. If it’s any help to you, the nicest way to say thanks is to pass it along. Every share helps another investor find us and keeps the whole project ticking over. 💛
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.