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Silver was the material of the formal table for four centuries — sterling flatware laid out in the correct order, a teapot on a silver salver at four in the afternoon, a set of matched candlesticks flanking the centrepiece — and the pieces that survive from the Georgian, Regency, and Victorian workshops are as beautiful now as the day they were made. Sterling silver is not fragile, is not impractical for daily use, and is very often less expensive than most people imagine. This is a guide to sterling versus plated, English versus American, hallmarks, and the patterns that reward a lifetime of collecting.
Sterling Silver vs Silver-Plated
The two are not comparable in the way that “gold” and “gold-plated” are not comparable. Sterling silver is a solid alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper — the copper added for durability, since pure silver is too soft for practical use. A piece of sterling flatware is silver all the way through and can be re-polished, repaired, and reworked indefinitely. Silver plate is a base metal (usually copper, nickel silver, or, in modern work, brass) with a thin layer of silver electrochemically deposited on the surface. Plated pieces are lovely when new, but the silver layer eventually wears through at points of use — the tips of fork tines, the edges of spoon bowls — exposing the base metal beneath.
Both have their place. A newly-married couple starting out might invest in a small starter set of sterling flatware in a pattern they love, supplemented by well-chosen silver plate for larger serving pieces. Antique Old Sheffield plate (see below) is a category unto itself and can be as beautiful as sterling. But the two materials are not equivalent, and any piece of “silver” should always be identified before purchase.
Reading the Hallmarks
English and Scottish silver has been hallmarked since the fourteenth century, and the marks on a piece are its passport — telling you the standard, the assay office, the date, and the maker. There are four principal marks:
Standard mark: the lion passant (a walking lion in profile) has denoted sterling silver in England since 1544. The thistle denotes Scottish sterling, the harp Irish sterling. The Britannia figure indicates the higher 95.8% Britannia standard used briefly between 1697 and 1720 and still available today.
Assay office (town mark): a leopard’s head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a rose (crown until 1975) for Sheffield, a castle for Edinburgh, three wheat-sheaves for Chester (closed 1962), a lion rampant for Glasgow (closed 1964), a harp crowned for Dublin.
Date letter: a single letter of the alphabet in a specific font and shield shape, changing each year in a defined cycle. Reference tables (Jackson’s Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland and Ireland is the standard) let you read the exact year of manufacture from the letter and shield.
Maker’s mark: the silversmith’s initials in a small shield. Great makers — Paul de Lamerie, Hester Bateman, Paul Storr, the Garrard workshop — are highly collectable, and a piece by a named maker commands a significant premium.
American silver is not hallmarked in the same statutory way. Instead, most American sterling from the nineteenth century onward is marked “STERLING” or “925” and usually carries the maker’s name (Tiffany, Gorham, Reed & Barton, International). Prior to about 1860, American silver often carries only the maker’s name in a rectangular cartouche, and is judged by that mark and by the style of the piece.
Georgian, Regency, and Victorian — The Style Periods
Georgian (1714-1830) is the great period of restrained classical English silver. Beaded and reeded borders, urn-shaped forms, fluted columns on candlesticks, cast pierced sugar bowls. Georgian silver is admired for its balance of form and its lack of excessive ornament. Paul de Lamerie (working London 1712-1751) and Hester Bateman (working London 1761-1790) are two of the most collectable names from this period.
Regency (roughly 1811-1830, though the style extends before and after) introduced heavier ornament — cast borders of grape and vine, gadrooning, matt-and-burnished surfaces, and a taste for figural handles and finials. Paul Storr (1793-1838) is the definitive Regency silversmith.
Victorian (1837-1901) is the most abundant period in the secondary market and covers an enormous range of styles: early neoclassical, mid-Victorian rococo revival (heavily cast, foliate, sometimes overwrought), Gothic revival, aesthetic movement. Victorian silver is often the most affordable per-ounce category on the market today, and much of it is beautifully made even if the style is not to everyone’s taste.
Great Patterns of Sterling Flatware
American sterling patterns are the deepest reserve for collectors. Some of the great ones:
King’s pattern (English, c. 1815) — the classic heavy Regency pattern with shell terminal and honeysuckle ornament, made by every major English house and still produced today. A King’s pattern sterling silver dinner service assembled over years from period pieces is a great collector’s project. Old English (English, from the mid-18th century) — the plain restrained pattern with a downturned oval terminal; the sensible Georgian everyday pattern. Fiddle and Thread — Old English with a raised thread border, more formal.
Tiffany’s Chrysanthemum (American, 1880) — the great American sterling pattern, heavily cast with chrysanthemum flowers along the handle. Rare, expensive, and one of the finest sterling patterns ever produced. Gorham’s Chantilly (American, 1895) — the most popular American sterling pattern ever made; slender, floral, and endlessly replaceable through Replacements Ltd. and the antique market. Reed & Barton’s Francis I (American, 1907) — extravagantly ornamented with fruit and flowers, hugely collectable.
Antique Tea and Serving Pieces
A complete English silver tea service — teapot, coffeepot, hot water jug, sugar bowl, milk jug, sometimes with a matching salver — is a wonderful thing to own and often available for less than the sum of the individual pieces would suggest. Victorian tea services are the most abundant on the secondary market. A Victorian sterling silver tea service in good condition, with matching pieces and clear hallmarks, is a serious purchase but often below the price of a single new luxury handbag.
Individual serving pieces — soup ladles, salt cellars, mustard pots, entrée dishes, sauce boats, meat platters — are more affordable and can be collected slowly over years. An antique sauce boat with a fine ladle costs little compared to the pleasure of using it. Silver salt cellars, in particular, are inexpensive, plentiful, and add real elegance to a dinner service.
Questions from the Well-Set Table
How can I tell if silver is real sterling?
Check for hallmarks. English and Scottish sterling silver made since 1544 carries a lion passant (walking lion) or thistle standard mark, plus assay office and date marks — full set is required for genuine period sterling. American sterling is typically marked “STERLING” or “925” along with the maker’s name. Continental European silver uses various national standards (800, 830, 950 among others). A magnet will not stick to silver (or to most plated pieces, either, so this test is not conclusive on its own). If in any doubt, take the piece to a reputable silver dealer or auction house — a five-minute examination costs nothing and settles the question.
What is the best pattern of sterling flatware to buy?
The best pattern is the one you will actually use for the rest of your life. King’s pattern (English, restrained ornament, made by every great house) and Old English (plain, Georgian, endlessly usable) are safe choices in the English tradition. In American sterling, Gorham’s Chantilly (1895) is the most widely available and easy to replace, Tiffany’s Chrysanthemum is the most collectable and expensive, and Reed & Barton’s Francis I is the most ornate. Assemble the service over time from antique pieces rather than buying new — the per-piece cost of period sterling is often lower than new production.
Is antique silver plate worth buying?
Old Sheffield Plate (roughly 1743-1840) is genuinely worth collecting — it is a beautiful material, the best pieces are objects of applied art in their own right, and it costs a fraction of period sterling. Later Victorian and Edwardian electroplate is variable in quality: pieces from good makers (Elkington, Christofle, Mappin & Webb) in undamaged condition are lovely and affordable; heavily worn or damaged pieces are not worth the plating cost to restore. Look for pieces where the silver surface is intact, without bleedthrough of the base metal at points of use.
How is antique silver cared for?
Use it. Silver benefits from regular use — the friction of washing and drying gradually smooths the surface and reduces tarnish accumulation. Wash by hand in warm water with mild detergent, rinse well, dry immediately with a soft cotton cloth (never air-dry, which spots). Polish with a proper silver polish (Wright’s, Goddard’s, or a treated silver cloth) two or three times a year. Store in acid-free tissue, silver cloth bags, or a proper anti-tarnish drawer liner — never in rubber, plastic wrap, or ordinary tissue, all of which contain sulphur compounds that accelerate tarnish. Never put silver in the dishwasher: the heat and harsh detergents damage both silver and any wooden or ivory handles.
What is the value of antique sterling silver by weight?
Sterling silver’s melt value is set by the spot price of silver (roughly $30 per troy ounce as of this writing, though the market moves) multiplied by 0.925 (the sterling standard). The market value of antique sterling is almost always well above melt — because the piece is worth more as a made object than as raw metal — but melt value provides a floor. A truly plain, damaged, or unhallmarked piece may sell close to melt; a piece by a named maker, in good condition, with clear hallmarks and a desirable pattern will sell for several times melt value. Selling for melt is heartbreaking and should be avoided if the piece has any character at all; a specialist auction house is nearly always the better route.
See also: Fine Crystal · Bone China · Candelabras.
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