Large silver cross marked .925.....is this sterling silver or plated?

[beez0404]

Howdy everyone! I was hunting this afternoon and not having much success. The place kept teasing me first with a 1965 Roosevelt dime followed by a 1967 Roosevelt dime..........so close! Finally I turned up an old Tootsietoy in nice shape. A short time later I got a very strong 93-94 on my XP Deus which would normally be a silver quarter. Out popped this silver cross. I poured a little water on it and gently wiped it with my towel and it cleaned right up beautifully which made me think it was silver. With my loupe I was able to read .925 on the back. There appear to be a couple letters before the .925 but I am unable to accurately read them even with magnification. I'm of course hoping it's Sterling silver. It is not magnetic. What do you guys think? It measures 2 1/4" tall x 1 15/16" wide.

Sorry for the bad photos. Not shot in natural light so they have a yellow/gold hue but it is bright silver.




This is a slightly better picture I took a bit ago with natural light. At least now it looks silver.

 

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[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Looks Silver to me..I have a few pieces that have TP-925 on them, I think its mexican jewlery Cool Find!

 

[park pirate]

Looks like silver, nice cross...

 

[Garrett424]

If you can't find it peeling anywhere it's likely silver.
Plating doesn't hold up very well underground and if it's plated it shouldn't be too hard to tell.

Get a nice piece of ice and lay the cross (or part of the cross) on it. If it's real the ice will begin to melt IMMEDIATELY and you should have a nice imprint of the cross in about 5 seconds. It's pretty amazing.
The silver will be extremely cold as well. The element silver is the best and most efficient natural thermal conductor in the known universe. The ice test is also pretty reliable. If it's fake it won't burn through that ice.

Good luck and congrats.

 

[Old Dude]

If I had a dime for every time I found a 65 Rosie...oh wait, I do, lol.
Nice piece of silver Beez....you can tell those 2 buddies of yours that your swag is back!

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[Garrett424]

If I had a dime for every time I found a 65 Rosie...oh wait, I do, lol.
Nice piece of silver Beez....you can tell those 2 buddies of yours that your swag is back!

I love one liners and that was a great one.
Made me laugh out loud.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very nice find. Looks like silver to me. Congrats!

 

[lastleg]

I'll predict it is not silver. Looks like pot metal.

 

[Roustabout 14]

Mexico silver hallmark.

 

[Davers]

If you can't find it peeling anywhere it's likely silver.
Plating doesn't hold up very well underground and if it's plated it shouldn't be too hard to tell.

Get a nice piece of ice and lay the cross (or part of the cross) on it. If it's real the ice will begin to melt IMMEDIATELY and you should have a nice imprint of the cross in about 5 seconds. It's pretty amazing.
The silver will be extremely cold as well. The element silver is the best and most efficient natural thermal conductor in the known universe. The ice test is also pretty reliable. If it's fake it won't burn through that ice.

Good luck and congrats.

Nice Cross & look's to be Sterling to me as .925 Means don't know what the TP stands for tho.

Always looking for a new tricks to ID , PM's thanks Garrett424.

Davers

 

[Davers]

Mexico silver hallmark.

I was thinking ' Mexico' might be the case.

Davers

 

[WheatWaffle]

Nice find!

 

[beez0404]

So short of taking it to a jeweler there's not a definitive way to make a determination based on the mark on the back?

 

[beez0404]

Garrett424 recommended an ice test and thought I would give it a try. The cross just might be sterling silver as it quickly started sinking into the piece of ice and almost instantly was ice cold also. I tried this also with the heavy end of a stainless steel butter knife. Although it did melt the ice a little it was nowhere near as fast as the cross. No idea how accurate this test is but there could be something to it.

 

[Garrett424]

Nice Cross & look's to be Sterling to me as .925 Means don't know what the TP stands for tho.

Always looking for a new tricks to ID , PM's thanks Garrett424.

Davers

I found a silver ring with the marks almost completely worn off a couple weeks ago and learned that trick.
It definitely works.
Lucky for me the ring was silver too! It left a perfect imprint in the ice in about 5-6 seconds. It's actually cool to watch.
I also tested a stainless salad fork and the results weren't even close. That's my "go to" preliminary test now.

 

[Higgy]

Nice find, Beez!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Nice looking cross.

 

[rodarian]

I too am jumping on the silver train. Looks solid silver to me. Very nice find!

 

[Garrett424]

Garrett424 recommended an ice test and thought I would give it a try. The cross just might be sterling silver as it quickly started sinking into the piece of ice and almost instantly was ice cold also. I tried this also with the heavy end of a stainless steel butter knife. Although it did melt the ice a little it was nowhere near as fast as the cross. No idea how accurate this test is but there could be something to it.

It's accurate. I've used it several times and it's been right 100% of the time so far.
I even dug up a 1 1/2" tiny .925 wire I found with a small silver charm. It melted that ice immediately. I actually found the minuscule .925 mark on it later.

Don't take my word for it. Look up "Silver Ice Test". It's a very old tried and true method. I'll bet a little puddle started forming around that ice immediately too right??

If there was huge difference between the stainless and the silver, I'll bet money that you have silver. Again, no other naturally occurring element has higher thermal conductivity than silver (that we know of, it's a BIG universe).
It's as good as it gets on this planet.

Plus, the darn thing looks like silver in the pic; not to mention the fact it's marked .925. I would say the odds are excellent, especially after melting the ice and pulling the chill right out of it and into the piece. I just don't see any reasonable doubt in this case.

Congrats on an awesome silver cross my friend. Great find.