MysticColby said:
thanks, GSP. I couldn't find another post that had the value, I was probably searching for the wrong terminology.
I estimate a spoon and fork have about 5.4 sq in surface area, which puts the total value at about 5 - 20 cents. silver plated knives would have a larger surface area, but is it just the handle that's plated? or am I confusing them with sterling knives?
When I gave the 50-200 micro" figures, I was thinking more of jewelry and electronics. For flatware and holloware, it could be much higher. Here's a thread with a chart I found in the very reliable 1967 Handy & Harmon book on silver (written by Butts and Coxe, believe it or not). I don't know how you would tell what the quality is, though, unless it were marked. Maybe the Standard Plate (2 oz/gross of teaspoons) is, uh, standard. It runs about 300 micro" or about 6 cents/inch2. Just remember that all those numbers in the chart are for new teaspoons. Any use or polishing would reduce the value.
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1804
I did more searching on this. The attached pdf gives the US Federal Specifications of silverplate for all sorts of different types of dinnerware. I guess this is for dinnerware used by government facilities (Embassies, officer chow halls, etc.). Note, however, that this entire pdf represents the thickest silver quality given in the chart in the link above - for teaspoons = 9 tr.oz./gross (144 pieces). I guess you could extrapolate the numbers in the pdf to silverware of lesser quality.
For British silverware, I found a reference that said the minimum standard is 20 microns thick = 800 micro" = 14 cents/inch2. In another place, it said the British standard was 35 microns = 25 cents/inch2. Nick (nickvc) is British and is very knowledgeable. Maybe he can add something to this.
I found several references that said they commonly apply 1 micron (40 micro") of silver for each year of intended service. I noticed some silverware that claimed 10 years of service and assume that means the silver is 10 microns or 400 micro" thick.
From a practical standpoint, except for giving an idea of the silver thicknesses used, all this info is probably worthless since it can be all over the map. Whatever you have, it is what it is.