Is 800 Silver Real Silver? 830, 835 and 900 Explained

What the number means

Turn a European spoon over and you may find a number where you expected a word. That number is the fineness: how many parts of pure silver there are in every 1,000 parts of the metal. The rest is usually copper, which is added to make the silver harder wearing.

So 800 is 80 per cent silver, 830 is 83 per cent, 835 is 83.5 per cent and 900 is 90 per cent. Sterling, the 925 you may already know, is 92.5 per cent. Every one of them is solid: the whole piece is made of that alloy, from the surface to the core. German law, which since 1888 has allowed no number below 800 on silverware, puts it plainly: the whole piece, melted down together with its solder, has to meet the number stamped on it, within a small tolerance.

Plate is a different thing altogether, not a lower grade of the same thing. A plated fork is base metal with a thin skin of silver on the outside, and it is paid by the pound at a flat rate. A fork stamped 800 is silver right through, and it is priced like silver.

What each number means
The mark	Silver by weight	Where it usually comes from	Solid or plate?
800	80 per cent	Germany, where it has been the lowest fineness that may be stamped on silverware since 1888, and Italy	Solid silver
830	83 per cent	Denmark, Norway and elsewhere in Scandinavia	Solid silver
835	83.5 per cent	The Netherlands, and German pieces too	Solid silver
900	90 per cent	Older North American coin silver	Solid silver
925	92.5 per cent	Sterling, the standard in Canada, the rest of North America and Britain	Solid silver

The 1-line version: 800, 830, 835 and 900 are solid silver. A little less pure than sterling, and nothing like plate.

Where Canadians find them

Canada sets the bar at 925. Under the Precious Metals Marking Regulations, a silver article may carry a quality mark, whether a word such as sterling or silver or a number such as .925, only if it holds at least 925 parts of silver in every 1,000. So a piece stamped 800, 830 or 835 was marked to somebody else's rules, and those numbers belong to Europe:

Germany: 800, often with a crescent moon and a crown. Since 1888, German law has made 800 the lowest fineness that may be stamped on silverware, and the crescent and crown came in with it as the German mark for silver. You may also see 835 on German pieces.
Italy: 800. Italian law recognises 2 standards for silver, 925 and 800.
The Netherlands: 835. The Dutch assay office lists 835 and 925 as its silver standards.
Denmark: 830, or 3 towers. The 3 towers of Copenhagen are a guarantee of at least 830 parts of silver in every 1,000, and the number itself, 830 or 830S, says the same thing.
Norway and the rest of Scandinavia: 830. 830 is one of Norway's legal silver standards, alongside 800, 925 and 999, and it is a common standard on older Scandinavian silver.

The one number on that list with a North American history is 900. Before sterling became the standard here, silversmiths worked in coin silver, roughly 900 parts of silver to 100 of copper, and sometimes lower. It is marked COIN, PURE COIN or simply C, or it carries nothing but a maker's name, and that is why it is tested rather than assumed. No number and no word sterling does not mean plate.

Wherever they started out, these pieces end up in the same drawers as the plate. That is where the trouble begins.

Why 800 silver gets thrown out as plate

Solid European silver ends up in the plate pile, or the donation box, for 4 reasons. None of them has anything to do with the metal.

1. The number looks low

In Canada the number people learn is 925, the figure behind the word sterling. Anything below it reads like a lesser grade, and a lesser grade sounds like plate. It is not. 800 is a little less pure than sterling, and it is still solid silver from the surface to the core.

2. There is no word sterling

A European maker stamped a number, a maker's mark and sometimes a small symbol, because that is what the rules there asked for. German law, for example, asks for a stamp showing the number of thousandths and the name of the firm. Nothing on the piece tells you in English that it is silver, so people assume it is not.

3. The real marks look like decoration

A crescent moon and a crown on a German spoon, or 3 little towers on a Danish one, look like ornaments. They are official silver marks. The trap runs the other way too: plate makers stamped rows of little lions, anchors, crowns and stars in shields so their goods would look assayed. A symbol on its own proves nothing either way. Read the number, and read everything else stamped beside it.

4. The word silver turns up on metal that has none

German silver, nickel silver and alpacca contain no silver at all. They are copper, nickel and zinc, named for their colour. So a spoon stamped German silver has no silver in it, while a silver spoon made in Germany carries a number such as 800. It is easy to see how the 2 end up in the same pile.

And the magnet cannot sort it. Silver is not magnetic, and neither is plate, so a magnet picks out steel and nothing more. Before anything goes in the donation box, turn it over. If it carries 800, 830, 835 or 900 and no plating mark, set it aside with the sterling.

Reading the number next to 925 and plating marks

Once you know which marks win, a piece usually settles in seconds. Find yours in the first column.

The numbers, the plating marks, and which one decides
The mark	What it means	Solid silver?
925, .925, STERLING, 925S	Sterling: 925 parts of silver in every 1,000. The standard in Canada.	Yes.
900, COIN, PURE COIN	About 900 parts of silver in 1,000. Older North American coin silver, sometimes lower, so it is tested rather than assumed.	Yes.
835	835 parts of silver in 1,000. Dutch and German.	Yes.
830, 830S, 3 towers	830 parts of silver in 1,000. Danish, Norwegian and other Scandinavian silver.	Yes.
800, often with a crescent moon and a crown	800 parts of silver in 1,000. German and Italian.	Yes.
90 or 100 on German cutlery, sometimes followed by a second number	A plating grade, not a fineness: the grams of silver laid on a standard surface area, which on cutlery is about 12 table forks and 12 spoons.	No. Plate.
EPNS, EP, A1, silver plate	Plating marks. Wherever one appears, plated is what you have, whatever number or word sits beside it.	No. Plate.
German silver, nickel silver, alpacca	Copper, nickel and zinc. No silver in it or on it.	No. Base metal, bought at the copper-nickel rate.

3 rules that settle most pieces

A plating mark wins. If EP, EPNS, A1, plate or silver plate appears anywhere on the piece, it is plated, whatever number or word sits beside it. Solid silver never needs a plating grade.
A fineness is 3 digits. 800, 830, 835, 900 and 925 are the standard ones. A smaller number, such as 90 or 100 on German cutlery, is a plating grade, and a 4-digit number such as the 1847 on Rogers flatware is a date. Scandinavian pieces sometimes add an S, as in 830S or 925S, and the number means the same.
A symbol on its own settles nothing. Real silver marks and imitation hallmarks both use little pictures. Read the number and the words first.

Older systems turn up too. Russian silver, for example, is marked 84, which works out to about 875 parts in 1,000. A number you cannot place is a reason to send a photo, never a reason to guess. Email it to [email protected] and we will tell you what it looks like before you pack anything.

What 800 silver is worth

Solid silver is priced off weight at the metal market rate on the day, and the rate follows the purity. Our price list carries 3 solid silver lines: sterling and 925, 900 silver, and 800 silver. Each figure is worked out fresh every few minutes from the silver price and the Bank of Canada exchange rate, so it moves through the day, and no figure printed in an article would still be right tomorrow. Today's are on our rates page, and yours is confirmed to you in writing when your parcel is weighed.

830 and 835 do not have a line of their own. Like anything else that is not on the published list, they are quoted to you in writing before anything is processed, and nothing quoted is melted until you approve the quote. Every solid piece is tested with an XRF analyser, which reads the actual metal without harming it, and it is done on camera.

Our published rates, posted before you send anything
Item	We pay (CAD)	Notes
Sterling and 925	Live rate, on weight	Follows the metal market, so the figure moves through the day.
900 silver	Live rate, on weight	Same rule as sterling, at the lower purity.
800 silver	Live rate, on weight	Its own line, below sterling. Today's figure is on our rates page.
830, 835 and other solid silver not listed	Quoted in writing	Nothing quoted is melted until you approve.
Plated flatware (forks, spoons, serving pieces)	$10.00/lb	Flat rate
Plated holloware (trays, teapots, bowls, candlesticks)	$7.50/lb	Flat rate
Plated knives, non-magnetic handle	$3.50/lb	Most of a knife is blade and handle filler, not plate, so knives carry their own rate.
Marked pewter	$10.00/lb	Flat rate
Brass and bronze	$2.50/lb	Flat rate
Copper-nickel, including German silver and nickel silver	$2.50/lb	Flat rate
Gold, 10K to 24K	Live rate, on weight	Priced by karat, and tested rather than taken from the stamp.
Anything magnetic (iron, steel)	No value	Already in the box? We recycle it at no charge and your receipt shows it at no value.

The calculator has its own lines for 900 and 800 silver, so keep those pieces out of your plate piles when you weigh. There is 1 processing fee, charged only on small settlements, and it is published on our rates page before you send anything.

Put your own weights against these rates →

How we buy and recycle solid and plated silver

Silver Plate Canada is operated from a working metals recycling facility at 2687 Slough St, Mississauga, Ontario. We buy solid silver and plate side by side, test and weigh every piece, and pay for the metal. Everything we buy is melted or shredded for recycling, and the metal is sent on for recovery.

We pay metal value only. We are not an appraiser and we do not give appraisals. A few pieces are worth more whole than as metal, such as signed design pieces and complete sets in their original box. If you think you have one, sell it to a collector, dealer or auction house first, because once it has been melted that market is gone. Email photos to [email protected] before you pack and we will say plainly which it is. That check costs nothing.

3 ways to sell, from anywhere in Ontario

Post it. Request a discounted prepaid shipping label, print it and drop the box with our courier. Labels are tracked. They carry no declared value, so if that matters to you, bring solid silver and gold in yourself. The label cost comes off your payment.
We collect it. Within about a 2 hour drive of Mississauga, enter your address to see the fee before you book. It comes off your payment.
Bring it in. Book a drop-off time at 2687 Slough St, Mississauga. No shipping label and no courier cost.

Whichever route you pick, the rest is the same. Every parcel is opened and documented on continuous video. Every piece is sorted, weighed and tested, and each category is paid at its own rate. As part of our anti-money-laundering (FINTRAC) compliance program, we ask every seller for photo ID. Payment is by Interac e-Transfer with an itemized receipt showing every category, weight, rate and dollar, so you can check it line by line. Everything we buy is held intact and unmelted for 30 clear days before it is processed, and anything you want back inside that window goes home by tracked courier at your shipping cost, which we tell you in writing before it ships.

Common questions

Is 800 silver real silver?

Yes. 800 means 800 parts of pure silver in every 1,000, so the piece is 80 per cent silver all the way through. It is a little less pure than sterling, which is 925, and it is solid silver, not plate.

Is 830 or 835 silver the same as sterling?

Not quite. 830 is 83 per cent silver and 835 is 83.5 per cent, against 92.5 per cent for sterling. Both are solid silver all the way through, just a little less pure than sterling.

What is 800 silver worth?

It is priced off weight at the metal market rate on the day, at its own rate below sterling. The figure is worked out fresh every few minutes, so it moves through the day, and today's is on our rates page. 830 and 835 are not on the published list, so they are quoted to you in writing before anything is processed.

My fork is stamped 90 or 100. Is that 900 silver?

No. On German cutlery a small number such as 90 or 100 is a plating grade: the grams of silver laid on a standard surface area, which on cutlery is about 12 table forks and 12 spoons. The piece is silver plate. Solid silver is marked with its fineness, a 3-digit number such as 800.

Is German silver the same as silver from Germany?

No. German silver, like nickel silver and alpacca, is copper, nickel and zinc with no silver in it at all. German law allows no fineness below 800 on silverware, so a marked German silver piece shows 800 or more, often beside a crescent moon and a crown.

Still sorting? Our guide to sterling vs silverplate covers the rest of the marks, and every mark is drawn out at a readable size on our what is my silver worth page. Found 1847 on a fork? That is a date, and 1847 Rogers Bros value explains it. EPNS on the same piece means plate, and what EPNS is worth covers that. Or send us a photo of the mark and a team member will tell you what it looks like.

Silver Plate Canada • silverplatecanada.ca • (416) 799-7528 • [email protected] • 2687 Slough St, Mississauga, ON