# base metals in plated flatware.



## watcher6880 (Feb 22, 2012)

Could anyone tell me what the most common base metal in silver plated flatware is? Especially rodgers bros.?


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 22, 2012)

Most are white copper alloys, such as German silver or nickel silver, neither of which contain any silver. They are named such because they LOOK like silver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver


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## bisjac (Feb 22, 2012)

kind of but not quite off this topic.

can silver/copper/nickel buttons be separated in a cell?
most topics discuss copper/silver combos, im curious about nickel being added to the situation.


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## watcher6880 (Feb 22, 2012)

How would nickle silver react in a nitric solution producing silver nitrate? Again I do understand that nickle silver contains no silver.


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## philddreamer (Feb 22, 2012)

Watcher, you won't get silver nitrate from nickel/silver, because like GSP stated, there's NO silver in nickel silver ware; you'll end up with nickel nitrate.
Check out some information in wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver

Phil


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 22, 2012)

watcher6880 said:


> How would nickle silver react in a nitric solution producing silver nitrate? Again I do understand that nickle silver contains no silver.



I assume you are thinking about stripping the silver from the nickel-silver with nitric. No way! To put it very simply, the copper, nickel, and, maybe, zinc in the nickel-silver alloy all want to dissolve much more than the silver does. Look at one of the electromotive series in the Data section. Those metals at the bottom (platinum, gold, silver, copper, etc.) would rather be metals, if they had their druthers, and those at the top would rather not be metals. Those more towards the middle can go both ways, depending on the chemistry, etc. Keeping all this in mind will help you to understand a lot of things we do in refining.

http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=821


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## watcher6880 (Feb 22, 2012)

Phil no. Go back and read my last post at the end... and GSP is almost correct about my intentions. I am going after the plating. I broke a few of these to where you can see the white/creamish/grayish base metal and and the plating can be seen around the base metal. I will post an up close pic of one of the spoons I broke. I have thought about going the reverse electro route but have been having a bit of trouble with the correct procedures... Oh and thank you GSP for warning me about those metals which pretty much answers my entire post. So what would be the best way to go about doing this? I have a pretty large batch (about 20 lbs of flatware).


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 22, 2012)

20 pounds isn't much. I know ways to do it but you'd lose money for just 20 pounds. There has been quite a bit of experimentation on the forum on this subject. Search! Maybe someone will chime in on this.

Check this for values and re-evaluate your thinking:
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=10807&p=105007&hilit=flatware#p105007


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