# The smell of silver plate



## joem

I was watching Storage wars and someone won a bid and it contained a silver item. So he brought it to an antique specialist and he was told...
ready for this ?
You can tell plated from sterling by the smell.
Plated smells like sulphur and sterling smells sweet. The antique dealer swears by this, Is it true? My plated does not smell, but maybe it's not plated.


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## element47

This is one of those things where you just have to think it through. Each and every sterling thing that has been made in the last 150 years says "sterling" or "925/1000" on it. Now here's where the thinking comes in: Why would ANYONE make something out of (more expensive than plate) sterling silver and NOT mark it "sterling"? If you couldn't tell that something was sterling, you couldn't sell it for more money and if you couldn't sell it for more money, then why would you make it out of the more expensive metal?


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## joem

element47 said:


> This is one of those things where you just have to think it through. Each and every sterling thing that has been made in the last 150 years says "sterling" or "925/1000" on it. Now here's where the thinking comes in: Why would ANYONE make something out of (more expensive than plate) sterling silver and NOT mark it "sterling"? If you couldn't tell that something was sterling, you couldn't sell it for more money and if you couldn't sell it for more money, then why would you make it out of the more expensive metal?



Could be true, but I have a couple of items not stamped and since I have no nitric to test I;'m just not sure.


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## butcher

I just smelled the silver plated spoon I have.

The plated spoon smelled like the bacon grease.

I wonder if sterling silver spoon smells like bacon grease too? 

Where is my sterling silver spoon?

Well this experiment will have to wait until I get a sterling silver spoon.

I wonder if he can smell the karat of gold rings?

I just got to pull on joem's chain. it is just way too easy. :lol:


Maybe the guy on storage war just smells good deals, or he seen the marking on the spoon (925) as he was sniffing, or maybe he has a better nose than I do?


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## element47

Another test is the "bendy" test. The stem of a sterling fork will be profoundly more bendy than a plated one; but the bendy one could be coin (.900) silver. Sterling is very springy, bendy. It is not stiff unless it is very thick, and again, most makers did not make it that thick because it (the raw metal) was lots more expensive. 

I will say again, I have never seen even a single piece of American or British sterling newer than about 1880 that wasn't marked "sterling" or "925/1000". There is some Russian and European silver that has odd stamping marks. Those you kind of have to know item by item.


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## Geo

like i told my wife.things on tv doesnt have to be real for people to believe it and more times than not its made up to improve ratings anyway.


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## nickvc

Well I must admit old uncleaned silver has a definite aroma but whether that's due to the oxidisation of the metals or something else I'm not sure.


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## manorman

I think for this to work you rub a spot with your finger enough to cause heat and them smell that spot.
Mike


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## butcher

I do not know about all this my hands smell funny.

I will stick with schwerters solution (potassium dichromate) or nitric, I do not trust my smelly hand rub test.

But then again I can witch for water and you may not believe that.

Do what works for you.


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## glondor

Hey Butcher I have the gift as well, came in real handy running the excavator all those years. I found things underground with a pair of copper rods that Techs with ground penetrating radar could not find. But I digress...... Sterling silver always smells like money to me!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## butcher

glondor :lol: Oh ok now I understand how you can smell it.

Reminds me of a man biting into a metal to see if it is gold, it may work for him who knows, but I would loose my shirt if I bought gold that way.


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## Harold_V

nickvc said:


> Well I must admit old uncleaned silver has a definite aroma but whether that's due to the oxidisation of the metals or something else I'm not sure.


You are correct. It does have a smell, but it's attributed to *sulfation*, not oxidation. That's what makes silver darken, and, in my opinion, why it stinks. Sorry, but it really does!

Harold


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## romaniarecycle

Works only on really old items.


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## goob

Silver definitely has a smell and it is a very distinct sweet smell. Just rub your thumb on a place to warm it with friction then sniff it. Clean silver is better than old dirty silver though. The oxidation has a musty smell that covers up the silver smell, and makes it hard to tell what it is. Silver plate will usually have an acrid smell which I assume comes from the electroplating solution, but I'm not really sure.

Some sterling doesn't have that smell because of anti-corrosive coatings, but I've never seen anything that smelled like silver and turned out not to be.


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## goldsilverpro

Lou once told me a way to determine whether a pin was brass or gold plate - taste it. Gold would be tasteless and brass would taste metallic. Makes sense to me.


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## Bigmike8045

Well that sounds like a good idea :| Hey, what does mercury/lead poisoning taste like?


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## tek4g63

Bigmike8045 said:


> Well that sounds like a good idea :| Hey, what does mercury/lead poisoning taste like?



Metal and pain!

Really though, the tasting gold thing really works. I just wouldn't go around flea markets licking things. Its likely that you will come home with more than just gold plated items. But sniffing things at a flea market seems to be common practice. :lol:


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## Anonymous

There was a pawn shop in Atlantic City that I used to go to alot, and the woman that worked in there, that I witnessed on three occasions, would take gold chains people would bring in, and she would put them in her hand, smell them and could tell if they were gold or not. I saw her give the jewelry back to a couple of people because she said the chains weren't gold. I'm sure that if it were gold, she would have given them money for their stuff.

Some people have that knack to do things naturally, where other have to work to develop the same thing. 

Kevin


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## qst42know

You can smell the copper in old brass jewelery even worn gold filled if you handle it a bit, though often it smells of stale perfume.


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## kronix

now a days, I would be careful smelling and tasting random jewellery, you never know where it has been worn, I mean with all the "exotic" piercings going around I wouldn't lick any piercing types  . 

as for buying silver plated items, I try to stay under $2.00 for big things, under .50 for cutlery. I haven't processed anything yet, but at least that way im not out much money when I do recover the silver. also, on old cutlery I like to look for the high numbers like "90" or the good service markings indicating a thicker plate. 

of course, there's always he Mexican silver that worries me, I paid $3 for a "sterling 925" bracelet that weighs 18 grams. it looks good, but I wont know until I dissolve in nitric, as I have no potassium dichromate at the moment.

does anyone else have any tips/tricks on buying silver plate items? lol, I don't even know if im doing it right.

- Ian


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## nickvc

Ian my personal opinion only but to me silver plated items are too much effort for too little return as the only method that I know that works involves concentrated sulphuric and nitric mixed and at high temperature, not a good combination again only my opinion, and to make it pay you need volumes. I know someone who does this and all I'll say is he's braver than me,he does make good money, but he earns it by been in and around that rather unpleasant mixture of acids at high temperatures, I'm sure the fumes aren't too clever either so good fume extraction would be a necessity.


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## skippy

I can vouch for the european spoons marked 90 being pretty heavy with silver. I melted the silver on the tip of one and it wicked/rolled up nice and thick, much thicker than the average sort of spoon.


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## ilikesilver

so i was reading your post here, and I'm no longer 100% sure that silver plate is not worth messing with and that all sterling is always marked. check out my post. 

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=17816


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