Can all old silverplated cutlery be re-plated?
In most cases, yes, but occasionally we come across cutlery that has been nickel plated, prior to being ‘flash’ silverplated. This was a practise amongst the lower quality manufacturers especially during the 80’s and 90’s to save money. The silver coloured nickel plate covered the “yellower” colour of the nickel silver so when the thin layer of silver-plate wore off quite quickly the nickel silver did not show through. This minimised claims under the 10 and 20 year guarantees. Unfortunately the nickel plate is extremely difficult to remove especially whilst maintaining pattern definition – so we would be unable to restore such cutlery. Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to distinguish the difference until we have inspected your cutlery, and then we would advise you accordingly.
