Silver

Silver is indeed valuable but whether the item is solid silver or silver plate, the telling feature is the mark on the bottom of the piece. The English often marked their pieces with a series of little pictures indented into the silver. A lion means "solid silver"or what Americans call "sterling". A king or queen's head means the piece is "English and made during the reign of the monarch pictured". The kings George III and IV faced to the right; Queen Victoria face to the left. This helps to get an approximate date but the letter gives the exact year. A mark of several letters was probably the initials of the maker. A leopard's head means the piece was made in Londoan. A thistles means Edinburgh and a harp means made in Ireland. If there are no heads but several marks, the piece is probably European, not English.

When the piece of silver has only initials or a name, it is most likely American. Generally, American coin silver made prior to 1850 had a name; silver made prior to 1800 had initials. Many times American pieces had "pseudo hallmarks"of eagle's head, a hand, star or cartouche (shield, oval); this was originally an attempt to indicate a similar quality to the English wares.

The only American silversmiths to use a marking system like the English were those in Baltimore, Maryland in 1814. Silver was marked with a head of liberty (indicating the quality of the metal), a date, letters and the arms of Baltimore indicating the city, and the maker's initials or name.The Baltimore system was discontinued in 1830 and the siversmiths developed their own system of indicating the percentage of pure silver with numbers.

After 1891 the name of the country appeared on the piece. The words "standard", "quality", "coin", or "premium" appeared on American coin silver during the mid nineteenth century. "Sterling" appeared on American pieces after 1860. Numbers like 800 and 900 indicated the quality of the silver; usually German, Italian, or Russian. To be considered solid or sterling in the U.S. or England, 924 parts out of 1000 must be silver. The term "silver plate" in England means what "sterling" means in the U.S.. The words "silver plated" in the U.S.means a thin layer of silver on another metal.