Yesterdays hunts yields old silverwa and gaming token International Sterling and IS

[bonepicker]

Went and hit a few spots with my detecting buddy Lafitte.
The last site we went to, was the place where I had found 2 silver quarters and a sterling pendant.
This is where I found 3 pieces of silverware, that are in question. (need some help here).
The 2 forks are marked International Sterling Prelude. From what I have found on the internet I believe these may be real sterling. When I went to ebay each item individually went for 25-30 dollars.
The spoon is marked 1847 Rogers Bros. IS. From what I found online IS=International Silver, which is a common company that does Silver Plated Silverware. 20% Silverplate. I went to ebay and the individual items marked Rogers bros IS were only selling for 2 or 3 dollars.
My friend Lafitte also found one of these 1847 Rogers Bros. IS spoons the same day same place.
Kind of curious if these items are real silver, and wanting to go back to look for more, we started pulling this stuff out of the ground right before we had to leave.
I couldn't find much info online as to whether or not these items are silver and would appreciate any help from some of you silver gurus out there.
Also ended up with an interesting Bronze token that is from Delaware Park Stanton Delaware, it is a one dollar gaming token that is almost the size of a silver dollar.
4 Wheaties One toasted 36, 41, 56.
And around 65 cents in change.
Any help on the Flatware ID, and token ID would be appreciated
Thanks

 

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[frankie]

Hello Kind of hard on the sterling if it breaks in half. Wonder what did that?

 

[Argentium]

The Items marked Sterling are just that ! No worries there . Nice Finds !

 

[UnderMiner]

The International Sterling fork is indeed solid sterling. It is illegal for a silver company to stamp the word "sterling" on an item if it isn't sterling. "IS" "Silver Plate" "German Silver" "International Silver" "Alpaca" these are all stamps you will see on fake silver or silver-plated items.

 

[bonepicker]

The International Sterling fork is indeed solid sterling. It is illegal for a silver company to stamp the word "sterling" on an item if it isn't sterling. "IS" "Silver Plate" "German Silver" "International Silver" "Alpaca" these are all stamps you will see on fake silver or silver-plated items.

The one thing that concerned me is I know if it is stamped sterling it is supposed to be silver, but I was worried that a company might use the name INTERNATIONAL STERLING as a company name, to mislead people into thinking it is real silver and not silverplate.
Please advise
Thanks for the good info.

 

[BcuttinPlugs]

U do think silver plate. Although anytime I have dug anything silver plate, u can tell. Normally, it's mainly a piece of copper, as only spots of silver plate remain. I would think at least some plating would be wore. It's is weird how it broke also. Do a foil or acid test.

 

[bonepicker]

U do think silver plate. Although anytime I have dug anything silver plate, u can tell. Normally, it's mainly a piece of copper, as only spots of silver plate remain. I would think at least some plating would be wore. It's is weird how it broke also. Do a foil or acid test.

It didn't break. I read a lot online about IS being silverplate. I cut it with my sidecutters. There is no copper core. The spoon looks like silver, but I believe it is a silver colored core metal with sterling plate on it. I was really hoping someone here would tell me otherwise, but I believe Underminer may be spot on with his analysis.
Thanks again.

 

[wheatfinder13]

It didn't break. I read a lot online about IS being silverplate. I cut it with my sidecutters. There is no copper core. The spoon looks like silver, but I believe it is a silver colored core metal with sterling plate on it. I was really hoping someone here would tell me otherwise, but I believe Underminer may be spot on with his analysis. Thanks again.

Why would you cut it??

 

[bonepicker]

Why would you cut it??

Because Im about 99% sure the spoon is only silver plate. And I wanted to see if it had a different colored core.
Even if it was sterling, it would only have a value in scrap/junk silver because the items being discussed are in dug/damaged condition.
1847 Rogers bros. was not when it was made, it is a series that likely came out in the 1940s, or possibly a little earlier.
Anyhow, silver plated stuff is not really what im after.

 

[UnderMiner]

From what I've read. "IS" stands for International Silver. The company is called "International", they make both silver-plate as well as sterling silver. The plated stuff is marked "International Silver" or "IS" and the sterling stuff they make is marked "International Sterling". So International Sterling is indeed Sterling.

 

[Carolina Tom]

I think it is awesome that you cut the spoon up with side cutters... Now that is real man's silver test. Congrats of the sterling pieces. GL&HH!

 

[bonepicker]

Thank you UnderMiner for explaining that for me.
So today my hunting buddy Bob and I went back to the place where we found the silverware, to try and find more Sterling.
I ended up finding a Stainless fork, and one 1847 Rogers Bros IS Butter serving knife.
Spent some time around an old oak tree stump where we found several wheat pennies and a Mississippi tax token previously, an out pops a couple of Wheaties and a 1926 mercury dime. About 2 hrs later I scooped up a 1964D silver quarter about 35 feet from where the dime was found..
So even though the site didn't turn up anymore sterling, I still managed to walk away with 2 silvers today.
I love this new site, the 3 times I have been there I have found at least 2 silvers each hunt.

 

[wheatfinder13]

Because Im about 99% sure the spoon is only silver plate. And I wanted to see if it had a different colored core. Even if it was sterling, it would only have a value in scrap/junk silver because the items being discussed are in dug/damaged condition. 1847 Rogers bros. was not when it was made, it is a series that likely came out in the 1940s, or possibly a little earlier. Anyhow, silver plated stuff is not really what im after.

Cool

 

[streakert]

The International Sterling fork is indeed solid sterling. It is illegal for a silver company to stamp the word "sterling" on an item if it isn't sterling. "IS" "Silver Plate" "German Silver" "International Silver" "Alpaca" these are all stamps you will see on fake silver or silver-plated items.

I did a silver test today on several pieces of my silver one marked IS " "see my thread titled sliver spoon"
And with much debate it ended up testing Stirling same as my flat wear that was marked sterling.
When in doubt cut it at the thickest part and test it.

 

[laffitte]

Bonepicker cut the spoon

The answer is he cut the spoon with wire cutters. Not good way, because he pinch it together. Cut it with a saw is better. this is "Laffitte" ..in Ocean Springs, Mississippi
I found two spoons one fork and couple of "wheat Pennies" Bone digger is doing a lot better than me.

 

[laffitte]

oooops

Correction that is "bonepicker" ...NOT "bonedigger" no telling how many times I wrote it wrong.