How to tell if silver is real

Thought this might be of help as reference. Silver experts will confirm... Or not.

https://www.gainesvillecoins.com/blog/how-to-tell-if-silver-is-real

 

If Mr N8 bought it......9 times out of 10 ....it's real !!!

 

Confusing thermal and electrical conductivity in the first method they mention doesn't give me confidence.

 

The ice cube method does work but only to the extent that the speed of melting is faster with a solid silver item than with a silver plated item (the silver in the plating will cause the melting but at a slower rate.) And it certainly cannot tell you whether the alloy is sterling or a lower grade.

 

The author of this piece specializes in coins, so his advice on testing for knock off coin fakes is pretty fair.

I wish an article like this wasn't so basic in the explanation, because an uninformed reader is now equipped to deal a damaging financial blow to themselves if they aren't careful. I can't tell you how many times I've read on a sellers post "it doesn't react to magnets so it must be real silver"...

My view:

1. If you are doing this more than occasionally, "invest" in a silver test kit for around $10 and watch a youtube video on how to test properly.

2. If you don't want to damage a piece, ice cube test will rule out some base metals, but certainly not all of them.

3. Ring ring ping test sounds like absolute garbage just to me. I have read it in other posts and I've tried to hear the difference between plated/sterling and I really can't hear any difference. More challenging is the idea that the items we find have different shapes, therefore different acoustic values.

Not a terrible article, but certainly not a wealth of info either.

 

Dint read it. I have very poor hearing. I often score by sound.