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tline3open  why does old silverplate look like sterling and new silverplate does not?

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Author Topic:   why does old silverplate look like sterling and new silverplate does not?
hecubus

Posts: 11
Registered: Oct 2004

iconnumber posted 10-31-2004 06:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hecubus     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
    why does old silverplate look like sterling and new silverplate does not?

I have always wondered this?

Is it the base metal used, or the amount of layers put on an item? Or perhaps the quality of the silver used?

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Kimo

Posts: 1627
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 11-01-2004 10:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kimo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Three of the reasons may be:
  1. new plate tends to have a thin anti-tarnish coating. This is often some kind of a plastic type material. Depending how far back you go old plate sometimes had a coating of a varnish type material or no coating at all. Most old plate that had a coating tends to have had it polished off long ago;
  2. Old plate has been handled a million times and so it has a million micro scratches and a build up of tarnish and dirt in the crannies which gives it a patina;
  3. new plate (and most sterling) is mass produced with less detailing than most old stuff. Even the identical pattern by the same maker is rarely given the same attention to depth, detailing and refinement that the old stuff had - this is one of the big reasons why people like to collect the old stuff - quality for quality, the new stuff just doesn't compare.

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vathek

Posts: 966
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 11-01-2004 01:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for vathek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
and genuine old sheffield plate actually uses a layer of sterling over copper, which gives it a much warmer feel.

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