How to Quickly ID Silver in the Wild

[AusTexDude]

The first thing is the look. You are looking for blackened metal. Silver is hardly ever found shiny. The key is, no bluish hints. If you see ANY blue hues in it, that means it's plated.
Second is the smell. Silver stinks like rotting vegetation. Plated will give off a slight smell, but solid stinks from the oils in peoples hands interacting with the silver. Once you learn the smell you can't forget it. It's like being 4 cars behind a garbage truck.

Even if it's not marked or stamped, if it's not bluish, and stinks, you probably have solid silver.

 

[UnderMiner]

Common silver plated stamps: "EPNS", "German Silver", "Silver Soldered", "Nickle Silver", "Community Plate", "Electro Plated", "1847 Rogers Brothers", "Sheffield Plate", "Triple Plate", "Quadruple Plate".

Common real silver: ".925", "Sterling", "Coin", "900", "800", ".999 Fine Silver".

 

[Chilli]

Anyone ever found native silver and know how to id it?

 

[tamrock]

Today I whiffed some saline spray in both nostrils to clear out my sense of smell and sure enough I caught the sent of silver down this one aisle. It was a nice addition to my recently acquired scrap silver to preform an operation on.

 

[Chilli]

Today I whiffed some saline spray in both nostrils to clear out my sense of smell and sure enough I caught the sent of silver down this one aisle. It was a nice addition to my recently acquired scrap silver to preform an operation on.

I need to work on my whiffing technique.

 

[pepperj]

Today I whiffed some saline spray in both nostrils to clear out my sense of smell and sure enough I caught the sent of silver down this one aisle. It was a nice addition to my recently acquired scrap silver to preform an operation on.

Nice sniffers you got, congrats.
Went sniffing in the hollowware isle.
Probably picked up 40 pcs that were plate. Crazy what they ask for plated now in the thrift for profit places up here.
I did manage a larger lot on auction this week just for scrap.

 

[tamrock]

Nice sniffers you got, congrats.
Went sniffing in the hollowware isle.
Probably picked up 40 pcs that were plate. Crazy what they ask for plated now in the thrift for profit places up here.
I did manage a larger lot on auction this week just for scrap.

View attachment 2245709

Yard sales are probably the best place to score silver plate cheap. I've often seen plated flatware pretty cheap in the thift stores when they show up in sets or individual pieces. This sterling set made by Lunt was priced less than most I've seen plated sets sell for in a thrift store.

Lunt Sterling & Plastic Contrast Pattern Flatware

I picked this up today because I had a thought it might be good to see what's around on a Monday morning at the thrift stores near by. I'm sure the box isn't original to the set and there are some soft bags that have a May D&F logo on them. Researching is hinting they may be from the later...

www.treasurenet.com

I'm thinking they thought them being made of plastic, which are actually nylon handles devalued the set some in they're minds. Thinking, oh these are half made of plastic and probably made that way to be cheaper.

 

[pepperj]

Got a set of like new Roger's 8 piece setting silver-plated cutlery in the drawer type canteen for $37 all in.
The canteen sells for that alone.
The used thrift stores for cutlery are just cheap stainless, no silver-plated.
Yard sales are still upcoming this year to get more.
De-plate
Melt brass
Sell ingots.
Or just scrap the brass.
Bought one of thos Brass Thailand cutlery sets in a canteen.
Scrapping it also.
Gut out the canteen for another use.

 

[AusTexDude]

Been seriously pondering getting a dog and training it to alert on silver. A dog may not be able to find gold but silver would be easy.

 

[UnderMiner]

Been seriously pondering getting a dog and training it to alert on silver. A dog may not be able to find gold but silver would be easy.

Get a UV lamp, walk outside at night looking at the ground, many diamonds are florescent, you may find a diamond. Take this idea to the beach and the diamond you see may just be attached to a gold ring! Night UV light hunting. I have actually done this. Didn't find anything though, but the concept is real. I take that back - I found uranium glass this way, that stuff glows under UV too and exists as sea glass in places. I'm sure other things glow too. Go to Siera Leone, Kentucky, or wherever diamonds are to be found, with a giant UV lamp at night, find a 10 karat diamond on the floor.