What is Silver Plated Flatware?
Well, it is usually pure silver plated over a base metal. It isn’t always pure silver though, it can sometimes be sterling silver plated over a base metal. Sterling silver is .925 silver with a .075 additive. The additive is often copper. If the sterling silver was made in the USA after around the 1850’s you will find a little sterling mark on it somewhere. Silverplate has no intrinsic silver value. Sterling silver, on the other hand, does as it always retains its intrinsic silver value over the course of it’s effective lifetime (which should be forever). Why does silverplate have no intrinsic value? Because the amount of silver in there is so small that it would cost more to refine it out than the silver is worth. How Long Will Silver plated flatware last? It’s hard to say. It’s not going to fall about in a year or two, or even five or ten years probably, if that’s what you are concerned about. Generally speaking, silver plated flatware should last around twenty years, give or take a
