Sterling silver: 92.5% silver, 7.5% usually copper. The commonest stamp in jewellery, and the easiest to fake.
The international millesimal mark for sterling silver7 checks
925 means the metal is 92.5 percent silver by weight, with the remaining 7.5 percent almost always copper. That alloy is sterling, and the reason it exists is that pure silver is too soft to hold a setting or survive being worn — the copper buys hardness at the cost of tarnishing, which is why sterling blackens and fine silver does not.
It is the most common precious-metal mark in the world, and consequently the most counterfeited. A 925 stamp costs a fraction of a penny to apply and requires no authority, no assay and no accountability in most jurisdictions. Plated brass stamped 925 is a substantial industry, and it is aimed squarely at people who believe a stamp is a guarantee.
The good news is that silver is unusually easy to verify, because it has two physical properties that nothing cheap shares. It is the most thermally conductive metal there is — more conductive than copper — and it tarnishes black in a specific way that plated base metal does not. Between those two, an ice cube and a cloth will tell you more than the stamp does.
925 is one point on a scale of millesimal fineness — parts per thousand of pure silver. Knowing the neighbouring standards is useful, because a mark you do not recognise is often a legitimate continental standard rather than a fake.
Note particularly that 800 and 835 are perfectly genuine silver marks, common on German, Italian and Scandinavian pieces, and that a piece stamped 800 is real silver at a lower fineness rather than a fraudulent 925.
| Mark | Silver content | Name and where it is found |
|---|---|---|
| 999 | 99.9% | Fine silver — bullion, rarely jewellery, too soft |
| 958 | 95.8% | Britannia silver — a British standard, marked with Britannia |
| 950 | 95.0% | French first standard |
| 925 | 92.5% | Sterling — the international norm |
| 900 | 90.0% | Coin silver, and some continental work |
| 835 | 83.5% | Common German, Dutch and Scandinavian standard |
| 800 | 80.0% | Widespread German and Italian standard — genuine silver |
| EPNS / EP / A1 | None | Electroplated nickel silver — no silver in the base at all |
'Nickel silver' and 'German silver' contain no silver whatsoever. They are copper-nickel-zinc alloys, and the word silver in the name refers to the colour.
A stamp is a claim, not a property. These are ordered by how much each one settles about the metal underneath — and the first two need nothing but a loupe and good light.
Silver is not magnetic, and neither is gold or platinum. A strong neodymium magnet — not a fridge magnet — should produce no attraction at all. Any pull means a ferrous core, and a ferrous core under a 925 stamp settles the question immediately. Note the reverse does not follow: brass and copper are not magnetic either, so passing this test proves only that the piece is not steel.
This is the single most reliable check on a worn piece and it costs nothing. Examine the places that rub — the underside of a ring shank, the edges of a bezel, the back of a pendant, the inside of a bangle. Plating wears through and reveals a different colour beneath: yellow-pink for brass, grey-white for nickel, dull grey for pewter. Solid sterling wears to more sterling, so a worn area is simply brighter or duller, never a different colour.
For anything of real value the answer is an acid test or an XRF scan, and both are cheap. Any jeweller with a testing kit will do a scratch-and-acid test in a minute, and XRF is non-destructive and reads the actual composition. A UK piece can also be checked against its assay marks, which is a genuine independent guarantee.
Silver has the highest thermal conductivity of any metal, and the effect is dramatic enough to see. Set an ice cube on the piece and it melts noticeably faster than it would on steel, brass or a coin of similar size — the metal pulls heat into itself and delivers it to the ice. Plated base metal does not come close. This is free, non-destructive and much better than its folk-remedy reputation suggests.
Sterling tarnishes, and how it tarnishes is diagnostic. Silver sulphide forms an even film that runs yellow, then brown, then blue-black, and it appears across the whole surface including recesses. Plated pieces tarnish patchily, often going green or showing a coppery bloom where the plating is thin, and the base metal may corrode with a powdery deposit rather than a smooth film. A piece stamped 925 that has never tarnished at all in years of wear is suspicious rather than well cared for.
Genuine silver leaves a black mark on a white cloth, because you are removing a thin layer of silver sulphide. Plated base metal generally does not, or leaves a greyish smudge of a different character. Use a clean untreated cloth rather than a polishing cloth, which is impregnated and will mark regardless.
Silver's density is 10.49, which is well above brass at about 8.5 and far above pewter or aluminium. A sterling piece feels solid. Silver also rings: a coin or a solid piece tapped and allowed to vibrate gives a long clear tone, where plated base metal gives a shorter dull one. Both are soft tests, useful as cross-checks.
The economics here are stark. Silver is worth something but not a great deal by weight, and a stamp is free. So the counterfeit market is not about substituting a slightly lower alloy — it is about plating brass or nickel and stamping it 925, which turns a few cents of metal into a piece sold at silver prices.
This means the stamp itself is close to worthless as evidence, and the physical checks are everything. It also means the fakes are often extremely well stamped: a crisp, clean, well-formed 925 with no wear tells you nothing, and a slightly crude stamp on a genuinely old piece is entirely normal.
One legitimate category deserves separating out. Vermeil is sterling silver with a substantial gold layer over it, and it is a real product with a legal minimum thickness in the United States. A vermeil piece may be stamped 925 quite properly, because the base is sterling.
Each of these is checked differently. The ones with their own page have enough that is specific to them to be worth reading separately.
Metal value first, because it is the floor and it is easy to calculate. Anything worth more than melt is worth it for the maker, the age or the design — never for the stamp.
| What you have | What the metal is worth | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A 925 ring, 3 – 5 g | A few dollars of silver | Scrap value follows the spot price |
| A 925 chain, 20 g | Roughly 18.5 g of fine silver | Multiply weight by 0.925, then by spot |
| Plated brass stamped 925 | Nothing | Base metal has no recovery value |
| Vermeil, 925 base | The silver only | The gold layer is too thin to recover |
| Designer or antique sterling | Well above scrap | Maker and age, not metal content |
Sterling's melt value is easy to calculate and almost always disappointing: weight in grams times 0.925 times the silver spot price, less a refiner's margin. Anything worth real money is worth it for the maker, the design or the age.
Lovenhall RingThe mark tells you what the metal claims to be. The instrument reads the setting and the stones together and gives a range to orient you — before anyone charges you for an appraisal.