Chinese Sterling Silver

HistoryTeacher · Jun 11, 2018

I hit a new TS today and finally got into some precious metal after a long drought. I think. I've been wary of Chinese "sterling" as it is clear that eBay is loaded with fake sterling pieces from China, but when I picked up these two boxes I had to buy them ($2 each). The boxes seemed old, and I had to know what exactly they were. When I got home, I Googled around and discovered that in the late 1800's and early 1900's Chinese silversmiths made silver pieces for the export/tourist market and that many of these are highly collectible. I cleaned all the old wax build up on these and think they are quite nice. Each is about 2 1/4" to 2 1/2" tall. They are marked in Chinese on the bottom with what I think are the same two characters that are on the cloth label on the box above the words sterling silver. I cannot find anything like these. It doesn't help that there is a brand of China dishes called Sterling.

Can anyone help me? Are the marks the maker's marks or "Sterling" marks? Anyone else have experience with Chinese pieces?

Drmad7 · Jun 11, 2018

Nice score!! They look like candleholders. Beautiful pieces!

Professor of Engineering · Jun 12, 2018

Nice find! :occasion14:

Javadroid · Jun 12, 2018

If they are silver that's a hefty bunch of it! Congrats! :occasion14:

JimDon · Jun 13, 2018

List them with International shipping. Chinese buy this and pay good money. Sold a small bamboo and silver export bracelet to a guy in China for $157. Couldn’t believe it.

HistoryTeacher · Jun 13, 2018

JimDon said:
List them with International shipping. Chinese buy this and pay good money. Sold a small bamboo and silver export bracelet to a guy in China for $157. Couldn’t believe it.

Sounds like good advice; I wouldn't have thought of that. I don't usually ship internationally, but I might have to consider it for this item. That is, if I don't decide to keep it.