So, you have the family silver laying around, but not sure if it is sterling or it is plated. This short video and blog will help you indentify the plated items.
Silver Plated
When you have a platter, set of flatware, a tea set, or other silver item that are plated, they will be stamped to let you know they are in fact plated. They could be stamped with some of the following:
- EP- which means electroplated
- EPNS – electroplated nickel silver
- Silver over copper
- Triple plated or quadruple plated
- Community
- A1, A2, B1, etc.
- Silver soldered
- Plateado (Spanish for plated)
Unfortunately, silver plated items don’t have a lot of value in comparison to sterling silver. For example, a sterling set of flatware with 12 place settings is worth around $1,000 while a plated version with the same number of pieces is around to $10. There is in face a small amount silver on silver plated items, it’s just a very, very thin layer over a base metal.