Testing Silver at Home by the consumer

• Topic 42765 "Confused about 'acid test' for silver and other precious metals"

A. Hi Bev. Maker's marks have been around for centuries, so don't assume age from lack of one. I don't see a reason to believe this set is truly old. "1629" and "1640" are surely just pattern numbers. The unknown item might be a 'tea caddy' which I'd guess was probably used the same way a sugar bowl is, except holding loose tea instead of sugar. These days you might put tea bags in it.

For further info, I'd suggest taking it to a "We Buy Gold" store (they are everywhere) and asking them to test what it's made of. If it is in fact sterling silver it has intrinsic metal value. If it's not sterling (and I don't think it is), it only has sentimental value (very very rarely any resale value), so you could see what an antique store says, but odds are poor.

Keep it in the family because the current market for silver plated tea service is depressed. And if that's a monogram on the caddy, it helps the sentimental value but not the resale. Styles change and it might be very interesting to a grandchild or great grandchild 50 years from now, and maybe even moderately valuable :-)

Luck & Regards,

Thanks, Ted! You're correct, the items are quadruple-plated. No one in my family wants them, so I have been researching hubby's grandma's Munden family to see if any of them do.

Jewelers Rare Earth Magnet

on eBay

or Amazon

(affil links)

Sterling Silver

A. Hi Julie. First test it with a neodymium magnet, since iron and steel are magnetic whereas most other materials are not. (If you buy neodymium magnets, please read all the cautions; small children and animals need immediate major surgery if they swallow one).

Then determine the density of the object using Archimedes' principle (compare its weight to how much water it displaces). If it's at least 10x as heavy as water and non-magnetic, there is at least a chance it's silver; otherwise it's not, so don't waste money on further testing.

If it says "Sterling" or .925, and it's not counterfeit, it's solid 92.5% silver. It's hard to tell what's inside an unopened package, so if you don't let the jeweler scrape through to expose the innards for an acid test, you're probably limited to x-ray fluorescence testing, which is expensive. Good luck!

A. If it's stainless steel plated with silver, a magnet test won't work. Stainless steel is non-magnetic.

Hi, Morley. Your statement is very helpful -- thanks! And it's a good reminder that no single test is conclusive, but if you test several different parameters, your assurance level rises.

(For the record, readers: while type 3xx stainless steel [18/8 & 18/10] is almost non-magnetic, type 4xx stainless steel [18/0] is strongly magnetic.)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. In reading this post I wanted to add something. Please do not consider the magnet test to be a reliable test for silver. This especially applies to jewelry. You will find that silver is often plated with Rhodium. Rhodium itself is not magnetic but in order to plate a piece with rhodium it must be plated with another metal first. These metals can be magnetic. You will find the piece to be slightly magnetic whereas if you have a piece of plated steel it will be very strongly magnetic. This applies to white gold as well. I have seen many people pass up on sterling and white gold for this reason.

A. Hi again. Strangely, silver is apparently very very weakly magnetic. So weakly magnetic that even a powerful neodymium magnet can't approach picking it up. But there is a great youtube video where the presenter slides a powerful little neodymium magnet down the face of a coin and the slower it slides, the more silver .

These magnets are very strong, so if there is any iron in the coin, it will lock on very strongly instead of sliding.

Regards,

A. A clarifying statement in response to the posted video about sliding a magnet next to a coin.

Silver is what is known as "diamagnetic". That is to say, if a magnet is moved near it silver will produce an opposite field to the magnet. If you were to drop a magnet through a silver tube it would slow down due to the magnetic fields resisting each other. Copper is the same way, and there are some great videos on youtube demonstrating the effect.

Unfortunately this compounds the whole issue. If you have silver plated copper then the diamagnetic effect will be the same.

WARNING!!! With coins (or sculptures) never ever rub a magnet on them or you will (potentially) drastically lower it's value without even trying. For example: A Newfoundland 1900 50 cent coin is valued at $4000 in MS60, $1100 in AU50, and $200 in EF40. You can change an MS60 into an AU50 simply by sliding the coin on paper or soft cloth. And you can drop it from MS60 to EF40 or worse by a moderate scratch, especially if the scratch is on the face of the person on the coin. Tea sets and such might not be so price sensitive, but if you do a magnet test make sure to pick a spot where an accidental scratch won't show.

Silver is good conductor of heat

A. My favorite test method is crude but quick. Using the fact that solid silver is an excellent conductor of heat, I place an ice cube in or on the object and see how quickly the article becomes cold to the touch. For something like a teaspoon with ice in the bowl, the handle becomes cold in about 5-10 seconds. A plated spoon takes about 30 seconds. I have not tried silver plated copper pieces, however.

A. Balance the item on your finger and strike it with a pencil or similar. Pure silver rings like a bell with a high frequency that does not fade quickly. If it gives a dull thud, it is some base alloy -- even if it has a plating of silver over it.

The method of tapping a silver coin while balancing on your finger is not legitimate. Many other metals have the ringing property when hit by a pencil.

Robert Flarence
- New York, New York, USA
February 6, 2012

Thanks, Robert, but lots of tests are multi-part, and I think we can only say a test is "not legitimate" if it produces false negatives as well as false positives. Do you feel that that is the case? Thanks.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
February 7, 2012

A. Use French's mustard. Place a small drop on the silver item and use a small amount of heat either sunlight or even a lighter, The silver sulfide will show as a black stain on the surface of the item, This won't determine if its solid silver, but will tell you if it's silver, I would ping test it and use Archimedes' principle with weight along with the stain test. Don't worry, the stain will wipe away with vinegar.

A. To test, simply make a small scratch somewhere inconspicuous on the item, and put a drop of ordinary household white vinegar on the scratch. If it turns green, or any other colour, you have a plated metal and not the genuine article.

A. You will need to be cautious with the vinegar. I didn't have any silverplate quickly at hand, but I did have some some nickel silver out of China and some sterling. The vinegar showed no colour on either scratch test, so will not identify nickel silver as not being sterling.

As an aside: There are a lot of fakes coming out of China these days - bullion bars and necklaces as a couple of examples. The necklaces are marked as 925 but both acid testing and density testing confirm they are fakes. I expect it won't be long until it is filtering through eBay as scrap. Buyer Beware!

A. If you have silver powder this could be smelted into solid silver. You would need some specialist items as this video shows (not me by the way just found on you tube :),
youtube.com/watch?v=yFekwsmIzTQ
so may not something that you could do at home but I am sure there will be someone local to you that could help out.

A. Hi Trisha.

All metals except gold and the other precious metals tarnish ... but it is a matter of degree. You probably have stainless steel flatware or serving utensils from which you can judge what stainless steel looks like. And if you also have Sterling or silverplate flatware, the difference should be pretty apparent: silver is sort of white, stainless is sort of blue.

Of course, your candlesticks could be made of other things than silver or stainless, like pewter or nickel plate; and appearance is just one, rather weak, test for silver :-)

Regards,

A. Hi Ida.

There is no particular no reason I can think of to believe it isn't silver with gold plating. Or brass with silver plating. But you'll need to take it to a gold buying service or test it yourself. Guessing solely from the appearance isn't going to cut it, unfortunately. Good luck.

Regards,

Regards,

A. Hi Noel. If it's not stamped "Sterling" it's unlikely to be silver. Sorry.