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How to Tell If a Tea Set Is Silver or Just Silver Plated?

A gleaming silver tea set adds elegance to any home and can be a family heirloom. Sterling silver sets are made of a silver alloy that is at least 92.5 percent silver; the rest of the alloy is usually copper. Silver plate tea sets are made of a base metal, such as copper or nickel, and are coated with a thin layer of silver. Solid silver is more durable than plate and will always be worth at least as much as the silver content, while silver plate is valued more for the beauty of its form and prices vary widely. It can be very difficult to distinguish silver from silver plate without close examination and, in some cases, scientific testing.

Things You'll Need

Magnifying glass
Guide to silver hallmarks
Nitric acid

Instructions

- 1
  Examine the hallmarks on your tea set with a magnifying glass. Sterling silver made in the United States after 1850 will be marked with the word "sterling" or the numbers "925." Silver from Great Britain is marked with a series of hallmarks. Among these hallmarks, a lion is usually used to indicate that the piece is sterling silver, although other silver marks have been used. Four or five hallmarks should appear on British sterling--standard mark, city mark, date letter and a maker's mark. Pieces made between 1785 and 1890 will also include a duty mark. Consult an online guide to decipher the various marks.
  
  Silver plate also sometimes has hallmarks, but these marks are different from those for sterling silver. Hallmarked silver plate usually has five or six marks, none of them the sterling lion.
- 2
  Examine unmarked silver for signs of worn plating. Look for base metal showing through at joints or on the bottom of the piece. The silver in silver plating is very thin and over time will wear away to expose the nickel or copper beneath.
- 3
  Perform an acid test as a last resort. Nitric acid reacts with silver and base metals in different ways, so the way the item in question reacts when exposed to acid can tell you its silver content. But testing silver with nitric acid requires you to nick an area of the piece and apply acid, damaging the piece in the process. Nitric acid testing should be done only as a last resort and only by a professional.

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