01Decisive
Read the whole stamp, not the first word
'STERLING SILVER PLATED' and 'STERLING PLATE' both mean plated base metal. The qualifier is often smaller or placed on a second line, and it is the operative part of the mark.
925 · Lovenhall Ring
The STERLING or STER Mark
The word rather than the number. Same standard, and the usual American form.
The international millesimal mark for sterling silver4 references
American manufacturers historically stamped the word rather than the number, so STERLING, STER and STG all mean 92.5 percent silver exactly as 925 does. Older American silver, particularly flatware and hollowware, is far more likely to carry the word than the number.
The word carries the same weakness as the number, and for the same reason: the United States has no assay offices. The National Stamping Act makes it an offence to misdescribe fineness, so the stamp is a legally binding claim by the maker, but no independent body verified it. That is a meaningfully weaker guarantee than a British hallmark and a meaningfully stronger one than nothing.
Watch for 'sterling silver plated', which appears on some pieces and means the plating is sterling over base metal. The words are doing precise work there, and they are easy to skim past.
References and sizes
STERLING · STER · STG · SS
Establish which of these you are holding before judging it. A genuine piece read against another reference's rules will look wrong when it is not.
Model-specific checks
What decides a STERLING or STER
These apply to this model and not to the rest of 925. Work them alongside the maker's general checks, not instead of them.
02Supporting
Look for an American maker's mark beside it
Reputable American silver usually carries a maker's or retailer's mark alongside the standard mark — Tiffany, Gorham, Kirk, Unger and so on. A lone STERLING with no maker at all on a substantial piece is worth more scrutiny.
The market
What a STERLING or STER does on the secondary market
Identical to 925 — the same alloy under a different mark.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- Is sterling the same as 925?
- Yes. Both mean 92.5 percent silver alloyed with about 7.5 percent copper. The word is the traditional American form and the number is the international millesimal form, and they describe the identical standard.
All the 925 checks
Free tools of the room
Lovenhall RingRead the whole piece
The 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.
Free on iPhone & iPad. An estimate, never an appraisal.
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