Another Reference Source

We've come across another web site that answers questions about sterling. We don't profess to have all the answers and welcome new resources. In fact, we recently submitted a question to this web site ourselves!

Michelle at allexperts.com provides quick and helpful responses to questions about sterling.

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We're Now Linked to Facebook!

We've set up a "page" in Facebook called Sterling Silver. The goal is to have Facebook users interested in sterling silver become "fans" of the new page. Most posts on the page will actually link back to posts in this blog.

If you are a Facebook user and would like to become a fan, log in to Facebook, search for "Sterling Silver" and look for the picture of the salad fork on a black background. Click on "Become a Fan". If you are already a regular reader of this blog, the new benefit you will receive by becoming a fan is the ability to see comments left by other Facebook users.

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Gorham Buttercup Hallmark Help Needed

We received a request from a reader regarding Gorham hallmarks on the Buttercup sterling flatware pattern specifically. Here's the question.

If a Buttercup piece has the old hallmarks of "Lion/Anchor/G Sterling", does it always also have a reference to "Patent 1900" on the piece?

This reader has some Buttercup pieces with old Gorham hallmarks that do not have any reference to "Patent 1900" on them and the reader is concerned. Some of these pieces were inherited and some were purchased over the years from a large, reputable dealer in used sterling flatware.

I have some guesses about this but would rather have an explanation from someone who knows for sure. Post a comment or send an email if you have the answer.

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Ice Cream Fork & Spoon Caveat Emptor

This is a follow up to an earlier post, "Made Up Sterling Flatware Pieces".

I'm seeing a number of sterling "Ice Cream Forks" and "Ice Cream Spoons" being advertised for sale. Be aware that many of these are not original pieces from the manufacturer. They are pieces that have been created from other pieces. For example, someone might take a spoon and carve out tines to make it look like an ice cream fork.

To be fair, most of the sellers have identified the pieces as being "custom". Also, many manufacturers did make legitimate ice cream forks and spoons.

So, read the fine print carefully before you buy.

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How Can I Tell If It's Real Silver? - Part 2

Back in February, we posted an article, "How Can I Tell If It's Real Silver". This is a followup to that post.

There is another way to try to identify the metal content of a piece - by using an acid test - literally! We purchased a test kit with a small vial of acid. The metal will react with the acid and the color to which the liquid changes is a clue regarding metal content. We tried it on a sterling piece and it appeared to work. In the case of "92.5% silver", which is the definition of sterling, the color was a dark red.

So, if you really want to do this, you can find these acid kits on eBay. Be aware that you have to scratch the piece a bit in order to perform the test. The acid also dulls the piece and leaves a mark. You probably can polish that out. You can use this kit to try to identify:

• Pure silver
• 92.5% silver (sterling)
• 80.0% silver
• 50% silver
• Lead
• Tin
• Brass
• Copper
• Nickel
• Zinc
• Palladium
• Gold

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Why is My Sterling Candelabra Worth So Little?

We receive questions from time to time from people who want to know why they can't get more cash for their sterling candelabra and single candlesticks. After all, it is sterling!

One answer may be that the piece really does not have all that much sterling as a percentage of total composition. Many pieces like this are mostly a cement compound with a thin covering of sterling. The piece might also contain lead, wax, sand or some other supporting material. The sterling covering could be very thin. There may be so little sterling overall that it's not worth even selling it for scrap.

I'm not saying this is the case for all pieces like this but it is true for many. If I was buying such a piece, I would be very conservative with my offer price because I would not know how much sterling is actually in the piece.

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New Information on Silver Plate Value

We may have done owners of silver plated pieces a disservice! In our post, "Do Used Silverplate Pieces Have Any Value", we implied that they had very little value. Well, we were not totally accurate.

Yesterday, we were talking with a silver appraiser regarding two candelabra pieces. The smaller candelabra was made of sterling and the larger more elaborate piece was silver plated. The appraiser valued the silver plated piece at about three times the value of the sterling piece. His reasons:

• The silver plated piece was made by a well-known English manufacturer; it had a very nice design and was in excellent condition
• The sterling piece was plainer, its design was of the 1960's (not very distinctive) and just not as nice looking

So, we stand corrected. Silver plated pieces of high quality and nice design can be valuable.

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Consignment Shops for Selling

I happened to be in a nice consignment shop today and was impressed with their display of sterling pieces. I don't know why I have not mentioned this approach to selling sterling before. So, if you are looking to sell something, this might be worth trying. Here are some points that come to mind (my opinions only):

• I think selling a complete set might be better than selling odd pieces.
• Find a shop that deals in high end items, such as nice antiques. It should have a good assortment of sterling pieces for sale.
• Be reasonable in your pricing. Do your homework before going to the shop.
• Make sure you can remove your sterling from the shop after a reasonable time.
• Polish your sterling!

I probably would not go to a consignment shop to hunt for pieces to fill in an existing set but if I was in the market for a complete set, I might search there.

I'd be interested in hearing about your experience with such shops. Add a comment or send us an email.

By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "View My Complete Profile" in the right column.

New Links to Current Commodity Silver Price

We receive lots of questions about the market price of pure silver. So, we've added a couple of new features.

Firstly, in the right column of the screen, you will see a small graph containing the current day's pricing of commodity silver. This chart is provided by http://www.kitco.com/.

Secondly, we've added new links to "Our Favorite Links" in the right column of the screen. Clicking on "NYMEX Commodity Silver Prices" will take you to a web page of the New York Mercantile Exchange that displays more information about silver prices. The "Quotes" in the lower right of that screen gives you a snapshot of recent quote activity.

FYI, today, May 29, 2009, the ending price was $15.60 per Troy ounce. That means that the scrap value of a Chantilly place fork in terms of silver content is just under $25.00 today. If you had to sell your fork to a scrap dealer, you could probably get between $13.00 and $15.00 for it.

We also have added a link to a "Precious Metal Calculator". There are several calculators out there but we like this one because of its simplicity. Here are the items to be input:

• Enter the weight in grams
• Select "grams" as the units
• Select ".925 Silver" as the metal
• Enter "-40" in as the markup/discount
• Click "Calculate Value"

The displayed value is a rough idea of what a scrap dealer would be willing to pay you for your sterling.

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Wallace Hallmark Info Request

We received the following request from a blog reader. Can anyone help? I have already referred the reader to www.925-1000.com.

Hi -- I am interested in understanding (seeing) the various hallmarks Wallace used on its sterling pieces, and when they were used. I've seen several.

I am specifically interested in the two patterns called "Irving" and "Old Atlanta", and have suspected that some pieces, which were said to be Irving, are actually Old Atlanta. Now I'm considering some pieces the I think are Old Atlanta, but the seller is insisting that the hallmark shows it is actually Irving, since it is an older hallmark.

I appreciate your help with this. Can't seem to find anything that details the dates with a photo of the marking.

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Identification Help Request

Here is a request we received from a blog reader.

I am sending you a picture of a Hallmark that we cannot find. We have looked all over and no one seems to know where it comes from or what it means. Can you look at the Hallmark on my old tableware and tell me where I can find where it came from. The Hallmark I am sending is on the old case as well as on the back of the tableware.

This is really an unusual one. Does anyone know its origin? Post a comment or send us an email.

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What does "E P" Mean on Silverplate?

We received this question from a blog reader:

I have a Gorham silver plate coffee pot. On the bottom of the coffee pot it reads in script Gorham followed by an E then an anchor inside of shield followed by a P then the word Brass. What does the E and P mean? I thought it might stand for electroplate.

We really don't know the answer but we found this review on eBay, SILVER BY GORHAM MARKED E P. Does anyone out there have a better idea? Send us an email or add a comment if you do.

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What Does "HH" Mean?

HH is an abbreviation for Hollow Handle. Most sterling flatware pieces are made completely of sterling silver. However, pieces such as knives and pie/cake servers often have blades made of other material such as stainless steel. The sterling handles of these pieces generally are 100% sterling but they are also hollow. The hollow part will be filled with some sort of epoxy to hold the blade firmly in place.

Some pieces, such as master butter knives and butter spreaders, may come in multiple versions within a pattern. Some may have hollow handles and some may have "flat handles" (FH). The flat handle pieces most likely will be all sterling, including the blades, whereas the hollow handle pieces may have non-sterling components.

See the post on this blog titled, "Butter Handling Utensils" for more explanation. You can find it quickly by clicking on "Butter Utensils" under "Labels" in the right column of the screen.

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Do Newer Flatware Pieces Contain Less Silver?

Let's assume we're talking about sterling pieces. All sterling pieces contain 92.5% pure silver so, ounce for ounce, newer pieces contain the same amount of silver as older pieces. The key phrase here is "ounce for ounce". Manufacturers have been known to manufacture similar pieces with different weights over the years. So, for example, if a fork manufactured in 1940 weighs 60 grams and the same fork in the same pattern manufactured in 1990 weighs 55 grams, the newer fork will have less silver content simply because it has less overall weight than the older piece.

When comparing pieces, you should:

• Make sure the two pieces are the same (not luncheon fork versus dinner fork, for example)
• Weigh them, preferably using grams as the unit of measure
• Assume the heavier piece has more silver

There is one caveat - it's difficult to compare knives and other pieces with non-sterling components.

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Identification Help Request

A blog reader has asked for help in identifying a piece. The item in the picture below weighs about three ounces and holds about one ounce liquid. Can anyone out there tell us what it is?

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I Want My Sterling to Tarnish!

What? Why in the world would you want your silver to tarnish? Well, there actually is at least one valid reason.

Many people who own patterns with intricate designs appreciate the effect of slight tarnish buildup deep within the crevices of the design. This enhances the lines of the design and adds some visual depth. This type of tarnish actually has a name - "French gray".

A problem arises when someone adds a brand new piece to an older set. The new piece may look somewhat bland compared to the old pieces because the French gray has not had time to develop on the new piece. One solution is to let the new piece sit out in the open air for a while. We performed a test on a like-new piece of Gorham Buttercup by letting it sit on an open shelf in the kitchen area for about three months. After that time, it began to match older pieces of Buttercup with French gray. We cleaned the smooth surfaces.

Now if you are in a real hurry to develop some tarnish, you can use the boiled egg trick. Hard boil an egg, cut it into pieces and place it in a plastic bag. If you place a piece of sterling in the bag, it will tarnish dramatically in a few hours. The problem is that this tarnish will not be embedded deeply in the crevices of the design as it would have been had it developed over a long time.

If you want French gray, we recommend letting it develop naturally over time.

One word of caution - chemical dip cleaners will remove your French gray.

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Where Did the Term, "Sterling", Originate?

We don't believe in duplicating good work already done. So, for a good discussion on this topic, look in the right sidebar for the listing of "Our Favorite Links". Click on the "Wikipedia Sterling Discussion" link. You'll find several theories regarding how the word, "sterling", came to mean what it does today as it applies to silver.

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Identification Help Request

A blog reader sent a request to us for help in identifying the pattern of a master butter knife. It appears to be a very old Gorham piece. It is along the lines of Versailles and Mythologique. It’s 7 ½” long, weighs 49 grams – woman with wheat and a bull’s head on the front and a gargoyle face on the back.

Can anyone out there help? Attach a comment or send us an email if you can.

Thanks.

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My Salad Forks Don't Weigh the Same!

Don't be alarmed. Manufacturers have, over the years, modified the weight of flatware pieces slightly. It seems to us that weights have decreased gradually. In some cases, manufacturers have identified specific weights on pieces but not always (see our post, Gorham Weight Marks).

Generally speaking, weight differences are not all that noticeable. So, it's OK to mix different weights in the same set as far as we are concerned.

One note of caution is worth mentioning. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. For example, Gorham makes a dinner fork and a place fork in its Buttercup pattern. Both are 7.5 inches long overall but there is quite a bit of difference in weight (see our post, About Forks).

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Selling Sterling for Scrap: Concrete Example

We have received lots of questions about selling sterling flatware for scrap value. We have responded with conjectures about how this might happen and how much you would receive.

In order to give readers more concrete information, we decided to actually sell some for scrap. We had some sterling flatware pieces that were bent or otherwise badly damaged. We sent them to a mail order buyer who advertises daily on their web site what they will pay.

The buyer received our pieces, called us to confirm the purchase price and paid us the same day via PayPal. The price we received was about 65% of the current spot price for silver. That seemed reasonable to us because the buyer has to make a profit. We paid the postage to send the pieces.

If you have specific questions, email us. We don't endorse any buyers but this one did follow through as he said he would.

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