I have a beautiful Russian Bracelet , made with Malachite Stones. I found the official video from the company that manufactured it. It is a 1984 AD and you can see this exact bracelet in the shot. I have no idea how it made it's way to Canada, but I am happy to now be the owner of such a magnificent piece of Russian History.
What is 90 stamped on 1970 German spoons? Plated or 90 percent silver?I I bought at the flea market what was told me to be silver necklace is all jewelry marked?
Is it possible to have a lion passant on Sheffield Plate?Or is the lion a mark of other significance,such as a town?Can it be mistakenly marked plate?There doesn't seem to be the typical copper center characteristic of Sheffield.The forward looking lion throws me off
I have a tray and the only identifying marks are an antique looking A and a stamp of what appears to be a crane bird. It says it was made in Sheffield England. I’m assuming it’s plate but I’m not sure.
Love the music, I was back driving my Cortina Mk3 again. I would ask a question as I have a 200 year old pewter tankard that's a bit dented, but it seems you don't answer questions.
Question, if a piece is completely unmarked and I do an acid test, will EPNS or heavy silver plate still give you a positive test result? Or does only solid sterling silver turn the acid dark red?
Thanks for the knowledge.I recently bought a cup from a thrift store.(no markings) but it looked silver . I spent a dollar.I just got my silver testing kit today and what do know.its silver.129 grams😝
What does the value of a piece that says International Silver Co.with the numbers 0998-01 mean? Also, there is a box with a 70 inside. Does this mean that the piece is 70% silver? What does the 0998-01 mean? It's a 14" silver platter.
I found what looks like a silver trinket box but there are no markings whatsoever. I cant even figure out what era its from. Does anyone have any ideas on how to find this information
A snarling iron... But for some reason they cost £85 upwards... I'm going to look for a cheaper alternative... You can even make your own... But it's a bit tricky.
It's taken me about twenty years of collecting, and I'm still learning! I recently had an epiphany. I was looking at some unmarked napkin rings I bought years ago before I had a lot of experience, and I noticed that they were somewhat on the heavy side. I thought for a second, maybe I got ripped off, as plated pieces (with metal other than silver underneath) tend to be heavier than sterling, which is very light. But then it suddenly dawned on me: coin silver, with its extra 2.5 percent non-silver metal, WILL be heavier than sterling, so that explains the extra weight. Also, was noticing that many times when they put gilt on flatware, they make the sterling in that spot a little rough first. Does the gold plating tend to flake off if this isn't done, say, to help it adhere better? I ask because I noticed this roughness on a napkin ring I bought long ago that I have a high suspicion is plated. (There are other things, such as it has beading that looks like it has uneven fill between the beads, as though something has coated them.) When they create plated forgeries, do they need to do something similar to make the plating adhere to the base metal? And lastly, I agree with you about the Sheffield plate. The protruding copper has a beautiful and warm look to it. It almost has a mixed metals appeal to it. I inherited a pair of HUGE Sheffield plate branched candelabra, like haunted house size, sans the cobwebs. :) I love them.
This has been a very interesting video, I'm personally looking into collecting silver wherever I might run into it locally and it's nice to have some guides to help in case I find something not made in the USA.
Using the snarling iron (also called a planishing stake if inserted into the square hardie hole on an anvil) with its rounded pressure points on the head, and wrapped in slick paper or plastic to avoid scratching the silver, he first marked the dented areas on the silver cup and then using hand pressure for control, and the heat of his hands to make the silver more malleable, he slid the dented areas back and forth over the rounded portions of the snarling iron until the dents were gently pushed out. Polishing then removed any scratches related to the dents. The terrible music distracted viewers from following the process and the lack of narration didn't help. Most people have never seen or heard of a snarling iron prior to viewing this video. All in all, though, his technique was very effective.
i have a knife , on the handle i see it says british airways . then next t it is marked RM & CO 1988 . there no other markings or hallmarks . how do i know if its silver ?
I'll give you some tips. This guy only talks about patterns so uh yeah. Sterling silver items tend to have a darker color (dark grey to black) when tarnishing. A german silver item has a gold-like color when tarnishing. (german silver is impure With multiple types of metals and has no silver at all) i bought a plate that was far too heavy to be silver yesterday for 1.50 and just found out when i got home that silver that tarnishes doesn't have a gold color tint to it. Still looks nice though. Silver can easily deform and have bumps on it. To know if it's silver you gotto look for parts of it looking as if it's been hammered or deformed. Sometimes the fancy patterns are even shown through the metal plating. Usually silver is really thin and lighter than it looks. With false silver it tends to be alot heavier than it looks. And the manufactures who make false silver bends the edges to make sure no one notices the rustic copper peeking through. false silver (it has alot more copper than silver) manufactures sometimes triple plates it with silver to make sure no now realizes the false indication. Another thing is there's this acid you can put on it to see if its real. I forget the name but i guess it's used on silver to test the authenticity. To prepare you Wear gloves (recommend thick thick gloves but as long as your careful) and eye protection as well as a mask. If you want to make sure it's not triple plated you may need to drill or scrape at a part thats not noticeable by others. Once you do that you squirt a drop of the acid in the chipped place then you wait. It sometimes takes a couple minutes depending on if the plating is too thick. If the acid turns into a greenish blue color then it's a fake if it stays a reddish brown color then it's real. Silver sounds more high pitched then other metal alloys and is easily cold. They also are soft and smooth. Silver is conductive enough for ice to melt faster then other metals. Oh and you got to look for certain numbers and patterns. You may need to look up online about fake patterns vs real patterns.
Oh wait false alarm i just realized that silver can turn into a goldish color when tarnishing. But i still recommend testing it to make sure it's real.