Hello, everyone! Welcome to our blog. At Sarasota Antique Buyers, we have a deep-seated love for art and history, and we’re dedicated to sharing that passion with you. We’ll use this space as a place in which to share tips, facts and news about the antiques business from an insider’s point of view, on a monthly basis. We’re thrilled to have you along with us.
So let’s begin by talking about one of our favorite subjects: silver.
We like to buy any kind of sterling silver at Sarasota Antique Buyers, as long as it’s not silver plate. What is silver plate, you ask? An item that has been silver plated means that some kind of silver—usually sterling—has been used to cover a base metal. In other words, the piece isn’t made entirely from sterling silver; it’s simply coated with it. It’s less expensive to manufacture, but it’s also lower quality.
Your next question, then, might be, What’s the difference between pure silver and sterling silver? Well, pure silver is usually too soft to be rendered useable, making sterling silver optimum for everyday use because it’s a much stronger material. Sterling silver is made from pure silver that is then blended with another metal—such as copper or platinum—to give it strength.
Sterling silver became particularly stylish during the mid-to-late 19th century, when it was advertised as the most fashionable way to set a “proper” dinner table. Due to its popularity, everything from flatware to saucers, trays, pitchers and candelabras were crafted and sold as “on trend,” creating a something of a silver craze. A number of prestigious silver manufacturing companies were birthed from the mid-1800s until the 1920s, and although sterling silver fell somewhat out of fashion around World War II, thanks to rising production costs, it continues to be a prized possession for both collectors and buyers.
When we buy silver at our shop, one of our favorite things to look for is the piece’s hallmark. Hallmarks are key to identifying the purity of a piece of silver, as well as its manufacturer and any other important information about the piece. Hallmarks are applied to the piece with a hammer and punch, and so they’re generally created before final polishing.
Sterling silver’s hallmarks vary from country to country. France’s hallmark, for example, is the head of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom (cool, right?). Sterling silver hailing from the UK or Ireland often contains a whole series of punches, including a stamp indicating the purity of the silver, a date stamp, a city stamp and a maker’s mark. Irish silver also contains all of those and an image of Hibernia, which is the Latin name for the isle of Ireland. Meanwhile, American-made silver often contains nothing but a maker’s mark, which varies from company to company (i.e., Tiffany & Co.). Figuring out how old, which country and which maker a piece comes from is a fun mystery, one that we love solving.
When it comes to selling your silver, you’ll first want to determine the amount of silver your piece contains. This helpful chart, from www.ajewelle.com, provides a good starting point:
Type of Silver | Amount of Actual Silver Contained |
.999 or 999 (purest, highest worth) | 99% |
.9684 (English Britannia) | 96% |
950 | 95% |
.925 (sterling silver) | 92.5% |
.900 (“coin” silver) | 90% |
Standard silver | 89% |
84 (Russia) | 84% |
835 | 83.5% |
.800 | 80% |
With Hallmark | Check with us to determine |
At our shop, we are happy to help you determine what kind of silver you’re in possession of and how much silver it actually contains. We’ll also help you uncover the history of your item. And if you’re interested in selling to us, we’ll come to you—so please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (941) 726-0401 or send us an email by clicking here.
Again, welcome to our blog and thanks for reading—please leave a comment letting us know what else you’d like to see, and we’ll look forward to having you back next month!
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