Silver cutlery value: what your canteen is worth

Is it solid silver or plated?

This matters more than anything else. Turn a spoon over and look at the back of the handle.

• Solid silver: 925, Sterling or the lion passant, usually with a maker's mark, a town mark and a date letter. Continental silver may be marked 800, 830 or 835.
• Plated: EPNS, EPBM, EP, A1, or the words "silver plated". German cutlery marked 90 or 100 is also plated, not 90% silver.

Plate wears through on the backs of spoons and the tips of forks, showing yellow or grey metal underneath. See silver marks and numbers or how to tell if silver is real.

What each piece weighs

Typical weights for sterling pieces. Georgian and Victorian pieces are often heavier than modern ones.

• Teaspoon25 to 40g
• Dessert spoon40 to 60g
• Tablespoon60 to 90g
• Dessert fork35 to 50g
• Dinner fork50 to 70g
• Serving spoon80 to 120g

Weights vary with pattern and age. Weight is only the starting point: the maker, the pattern and the condition decide what a piece is worth.

Worked example: a six-place canteen

The question we are asked most often is what a whole set is worth. Here is a typical six-place sterling canteen of 44 pieces.

That 1.77kg of sterling sets the floor. A boxed set by a good maker such as Walker & Hall or Mappin & Webb is usually worth more, and a Georg Jensen pattern can be worth several times more.

The knife problem

This is the main reason people's own estimates come out too high. A silver-handled dinner knife can weigh 80g on kitchen scales, but the handle is a thin silver shell filled with resin or pitch, and the blade is steel. Only a small part of that weight is silver.

When cutlery is worth more than its weight

• A collected maker. Georgian makers such as Paul Storr or Hester Bateman, and retailers such as Asprey and Garrard.
• A complete set in its original case. It sells as usable tableware, well above metal value.
• An early date. Georgian flatware is worth more per gram than Victorian, and much more than modern.
• Unusual serving pieces. Fish servers, grape scissors and marrow scoops sell well on their own.
• Crests or armorials with a family or regimental story we can trace.

Plain modern sterling in a common pattern with worn monograms is valued mainly for its silver content, and we will tell you when that is the case. Ready to sell? Selling silver cutlery explains how it works.

Questions