What is EPNS worth?
EPNS stands for electroplated nickel silver, and it is worth a flat published rate on weight. The rate follows the shape of the piece, not the mark: $10.00/lb for flatware, $7.50/lb for holloware such as teapots and trays, and $3.50/lb for knives with a non-magnetic handle.
The 4 letters, decoded
EPNS is 2 ideas stuck together, and the second one is where people go wrong.
- EP is electroplated. A layer of real silver was bonded to the surface of a finished object by passing electricity through a solution. The layer is measured in microns. It is genuine silver and there is not much of it.
- NS is nickel silver. This is the body underneath: an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. Despite the name, there is no silver in nickel silver. It was called silver because it is silver-coloured, and that naming has been confusing households for well over a century.
Put the 2 halves together and EPNS says, quite precisely: a thin skin of silver over a metal that contains none. Almost all the weight in your hand is copper, nickel and zinc.
That is why EPNS is paid on weight at a flat rate instead of per gram of silver. Nobody can honestly tell you how many grams of silver are on your teapot. The layer varies with the grade the maker used and with how much of it decades of polishing have taken off, so any per-piece silver figure anyone hands you is a guess dressed up as arithmetic.
It also explains why a coin shop or a gold buyer will not take it. They price per gram of precious metal and EPNS fails that sum. Recovering the layer means shredding, melting and refining, which only pays at scale. We work in volume and send the metal on for recovery, so EPNS is ordinary stock here. That is the whole difference.
The EP family: 8 marks that all mean plated
EPNS has siblings. Different makers, different eras and different base metals produced different letters, and they all point at the same conclusion. Find yours in the first column.
| The mark | What it stands for | What is underneath | Silver in the body? |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPNS | Electroplated nickel silver | Nickel silver: copper, nickel and zinc | None. The silver is the surface only. The commonest mark of all, and what most Canadian drawers are full of. |
| EP, EPC, EPCA | Electroplate, and electroplate on copper | Copper or a copper alloy | None. The copper ones often show a warm pink glow where the plating has worn through. |
| EPBM | Electroplated Britannia metal | Britannia metal, a tin alloy | None. Common on teapots, coffee pots and trays. Britannia METAL is not Britannia STANDARD, which is solid silver purer than sterling. |
| A1, AA, XII beside an EP mark | A maker's own plating grade | Whatever base that maker used | None. There was never a legal standard behind the letters. |
| Triple plate, quadruple plate | Real grades describing how much silver went onto a gross of teaspoons | Base metal | None, and these are genuinely better pieces. Quadruple was the heaviest of the ordinary grades. |
| Silver soldered | A plating grade, not a construction method | Base metal | None. This is the heavy plate used on hotel, railway and steamship service, and it is worth sending: the deposit is thicker than domestic plate and the pieces are heavy. |
| Silver on copper | Exactly what it says | A copper body | None. Plate, and usually old. |
| Nickel silver or German silver, with no EP in front | The bare base alloy, named on its own | Nothing. There is no plating on it. | None, and no silver on top either. This is NOT the same thing as EPNS. See the warning below. |
The 1 mark worth checking twice: a piece stamped only NICKEL SILVER or GERMAN SILVER, with no EP, no EPNS and no plate anywhere on it, was never plated. There is no silver in the alloy and none on the surface. It is a base-metal item and it is not paid at the plated rate. Before you pay to ship a box of it, email a photo of the mark to [email protected] and we will tell you which of the 2 you are holding.
What we pay for EPNS
These are flat published rates, posted before you send anything and the same for everyone. They do not move from one day to the next. Solid silver and gold are different: they are priced based off weight against the live metal market, so no figure printed here would still be true tomorrow.
| Item | We pay (CAD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EPNS flatware (forks, spoons, serving pieces) | $10.00/lb | Flat rate. Same figure for EP, EPC, EPBM and every other plating mark. |
| EPNS holloware (teapots, trays, bowls, candlesticks) | $7.50/lb | Flat rate. Holloware is hollow, so a big piece can weigh less than it looks. |
| EPNS 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 | $2.50/lb | Flat rate |
| Sterling and 925, 900 and 800 silver | Live rate, on weight | Follows the metal market, so the figure moves through the day. Today's is on our rates page. |
| 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 shape decides the rate, not the letters
This is the part people are usually surprised by. An EPNS fork, an EPNS teapot and an EPNS knife carrying the identical stamp are paid at 3 different rates, because 3 different amounts of plated surface are actually there per pound of metal.
The weights below are examples, not promises. We have not weighed your pieces. The only weight that counts is the one on our scale with the parcel open on camera. Copy the arithmetic, not the figures.
- An EPNS tea service. Teapot, coffee pot, sugar and creamer. Call it 7 lb. 7 x $7.50 = $52.50
- An EPNS gallery tray. Call it 6 lb. 6 x $7.50 = $45.00
- A drawer of EPNS flatware, knives set aside. Call it 5 lb. 5 x $10.00 = $50.00
- The 12 matching knives, handles not magnetic. Call it 2 lb. 2 x $3.50 = $7.00
Total $154.50. That is under $250, so the $25 processing fee applies and the settlement is $129.50. The fee is charged once per settlement, so 1 shipment beats 2 small ones.
The 1 fee we have, published up front: settlements of $250 or more are processed with no fee. Settlements under $250 carry a $25 processing fee, measured on the settlement before the fee comes off.
4 places EPNS catches people out
1. The magnet will not separate EPNS from sterling
Neither one is magnetic. A magnet is still the first thing to reach for, because anything it grabs firmly is iron or steel and carries no value, but passing the magnet test proves nothing on its own. The exception that catches everybody: a magnet sticking to a knife BLADE is normal on almost every knife ever made, plated or solid. Test the handle, not the blade.
2. Little stamped pictures beside EPNS are decoration
Plate makers on both sides of the Atlantic deliberately stamped rows of small lions, anchors, crowns and stars in shields so their goods would look assayed. If EP, EPNS, A1 or the word plate appears anywhere on the piece, those pictures are decoration. The reverse trap also exists, and it costs people more: a British piece with no word sterling on it, only tiny stamped pictures, is often solid silver that a family writes off as plate.
3. Home acid kits routinely call EPNS solid
They read the surface, and the surface IS silver. They also damage the piece. Professional buyers use XRF analysis instead, which reads the actual metal without touching it, and every solid piece that reaches us goes under one, on camera.
4. A heavy EPNS candlestick can pay less than a light tray
Most candlesticks, and some trophies and vases, are a thin metal shell packed with plaster, pitch or cement. That filler is not metal and is not paid for. The same goes for glass liners, wooden handles and the felt pads under tray feet. None of it is metal and none of it is paid for, and every deduction shows on the itemized receipt line by line.
And do not polish it. Polishing lifts a little silver off with the tarnish and makes no difference to what you are paid. Both sterling and EPNS tarnish black, because both have silver at the surface, so tarnish proves nothing either way. Send it as you found it.
When EPNS belongs somewhere else
We buy for metal value only. We melt and shred. We are not an appraiser and we do not give appraisals. A few plated things are worth more whole than as metal: early Sheffield plate, which carries far more silver than electroplate and is usually not marked at all, unusual Victorian figural pieces, and hotel, railway or steamship service struck with the name of the company that owned it. If you think you have one, sell it to a collector, dealer or auction house first, because once it is broken up for metal 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, so you do not have to sort the box yourself. 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. 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
What does EPNS stand for?
Electroplated nickel silver. Nickel silver is the base metal underneath, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc with no silver in it at all. The silver is a layer bonded onto the surface, measured in microns.
What is EPNS worth?
On weight, at a flat published rate, and the rate follows the shape of the piece rather than the mark. EPNS flatware is $10.00 per lb, EPNS holloware such as teapots, trays and bowls is $7.50 per lb, and EPNS knives with a non-magnetic handle are $3.50 per lb.
Is EPNS the same thing as silver plate?
Yes. EPNS is one of several ways a maker wrote silver plate. EP, EPC, EPBM, A1, triple plate, quadruple plate and silver soldered all describe the same thing: a silver layer over a base metal body.
Does A1 or quadruple plate mean my EPNS is worth more?
Not at our published rate, which is flat on weight. The heavier grades did go on with more silver, but how much is left depends on how worn the piece is, so there is no honest per-piece figure anyone can publish. The letters were each maker's own grade and never a legal standard.
My piece says nickel silver, not EPNS. Is that the same thing?
No, and this is the mistake worth catching before you pay to ship a box. Nickel silver, or German silver, on its own names the base alloy, and there is no silver in it or on it. EPNS means that same alloy with a silver layer plated on. If you are not sure which you have, email a photo of the mark to [email protected] first.
Found a maker's name rather than letters? Our guide to 1847 Rogers Bros value covers the commonest one, and Birks silver marks covers Birks, which sold both sterling and plate. For the whole drawer, read is silver plate worth anything, or compare buyers in where to sell silverware in Ontario. You can also 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