Never stop trying. Awhile back I was digging through a pile of Silver plated flatware a guy who ran the local dump had on a table at his annual yard sale. He always goes through that stuff and picks out any Sterling and cashes it in but my wife wanted some cheap plated stuff to make wind chimes out of. I bought 8 butter knives because they matched and paid 25 cents each for the lot . Got home and started looking them over more closely and saw an unfamiliar proof mark that was hidden by the design embossed into the handles. It turned out to be a French mark that stood for .950 Silver.. Best 2 bucks I had spent in awhile.