# A1 silver plate



## Ohiogoldfever (May 16, 2021)

I can’t seem to find a direct answer on the net so I hope someone here can shed some light on it. 

Best I can find states A1 designates plating using 
a full once of silver. An ounce per piece? Per set? 

I have been collecting cheap silver plate stuff to deplate. Anyone have a preferred de plating cell type? Seems to be a few options pros and cons to each. Any input is appreciated. 

Jeremy


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## kjavanb123 (May 17, 2021)

Ohiogoldfever said:


> I can’t seem to find a direct answer on the net so I hope someone here can shed some light on it.
> 
> Best I can find states A1 designates plating using
> a full once of silver. An ounce per piece? Per set?
> ...



Hi

I have used combination of concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid in ratio of 4 to 1. Some heat needed. But it removes the silver and leave the copper clean. 

You can check out my post about this.


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## nickvc (May 17, 2021)

Got to say straight off that using hot sulphuric and nitric mixed is downright dangerous and should only be tried using a fume hood and protective gloves and clothing at least, it works but I really wouldn’t want to be the operator :shock:


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## Ohiogoldfever (May 17, 2021)

Yea I’ve seen that is an option however I’d prefer to use something a bit less volatile. Sounds like it works great but so do nukes...

Thanks for the input gents.


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## kjavanb123 (May 17, 2021)

Again I meant warm sulfuric because once you slowly add nitric it warms up the sulfuric and when I operate there is no fumes. 
It is very quick takes few seconds. But it is your call.


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## Ohiogoldfever (May 17, 2021)

I understand. I’m not knocking you brother. I may go that route, im just also looking for options that might be slightly less dangerous in the unlikely event of some form of accident.


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## FrugalRefiner (May 17, 2021)

Ohiogoldfever said:


> Best I can find states A1 designates plating using
> a full once of silver. An ounce per piece? Per set?



I believe it's an ounce per dozen tablespoons or forks.

Dave


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## Ohiogoldfever (May 17, 2021)

Great. Thanks Dave! I figured it had to be something along those lines. Picked up a 60 pc set for 5 bucks the other day. Should pan out decent.


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## snail (May 17, 2021)

I hate to ruin your expectations, but I believe it’s per gross of teaspoons ( old GSP post ).
I had about 160 lbs of flatware, about 40% was heavier coating ( double plate triple plate and hotel plate ) and recovered 36 ounces.
I believe the plating in Europe is heavier than here in the United States.
Dale


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## Ohiogoldfever (May 17, 2021)

That’s good info to have. All the stuff I’m collecting is cheap. If I turn a profit that would be great but I’m more in it for the hobby. Stop and hunt the thrift shops when I have a minuet, snatch up anything that’s dirt cheap and set it aside. Can’t expect to find any cheap sterling if your not out looking. 

I’ll set up a cell and run whenever the times right. It’s a pretty low budget bit of fun. Hell I know guys that have more in a single fishing pole than I have in my 50-60 lbs stack of plated trinkets. Plus I’ll sell off any copper or brass once it’s de plated. Surly no get rich schemes over here. :lol:


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## snail (May 17, 2021)

Same here, I try to buy at the value of the base metal and anything I recover is a plus. Took 13 years to collect the flatware and still have near a Gaylord Box of trays and teapots to go through next. It’s time to reduce the footprint in my storage area. 
Good luck
Dale


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## Ohiogoldfever (May 17, 2021)

What was your recovery method?


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## snail (May 17, 2021)

i used Sodium Sulfite 80 g/l in a stainless steel container. Used 1.5 volts with the container as the cathode.
it's not fast, i would check on the progress after 8 hours, usually 8 to 12 hours was good. I spray any loose material off into the container with a spray bottle.I would change out the items twice a day.

After 6 to 7 days the bath would go bad leaving a loose green deposit on the items at the solution level and need changed out.

The silver collected as a sludge like loose deposit on the walls of the container that dissolved clear in nitric so I assume it is relatively clean.

The solution does not attack the base metal of the flatware. It does attack pewter and white metal trim sightly and the sludge needs dissolved in nitric to separate the silver when those metals are present, so I run it separately. There is also a bad reaction to iron based items such as some of the very old magnetic flatware so they are excluded.

The spent solution had very little dissolved silver in it, not worth a special effort to recover it.

When I mentioned this method, which I found Deep in this forum, nobody seemed to like it. But personally I'm quite pleased with it. The Solution Is relatively benign, has no strong odor, and the process needs little attention

Dale


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