www.925-1000.com

I have a piece that has mark of bruckman and sohne "crescent, crown, 800,eagle" along with a mark of "right pointing triangle,U,G,right pointing triangle,N MARCUS" one quick acid scratch test failed for silver according to jeweler but i dont know if they are familar with 800 silver in small town Ohio. Can anyone tell me if this is 80% silver or just nickel . my guess is it is fake but there was alot of hallmarks and a 6digit number lightly scratched in the metal and I have seen it one other place where they work selling it as 80%. [img][/img]

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Trev.

Eugen Marcus is the name of a well-known jeweller. It is silber 800 from Bruckmann & Söhne, Heilbronn.

silverfan wrote:Eugen Marcus is the name of a well-known jeweller. It is silber 800 from Bruckmann & Söhne, Heilbronn.

Do you think the acid test was faulty?

I imagine they were testing only for Sterling silver, and when the acid did not reach the desired colour, called it a failed test. Where they by any chance interested in buying the item?!

Legally in the UK, silver has to be 92.5% pure (sterling), or it is actually illegal to sell it under the term "Silver". Anything less has to be called "White Metal". I think the same applies in the US, save for the fact that you also (since 1906) have the legally defined term "Coin Silver", which I believe to be 90% purity.

The sort of acid I use works as follows: One looks for a blood red colour in Sterling silver. Lower grade silver gives a lighter and more orangey red. Base metal stays completely orange.
The deeper the red the higher the silver content.

However, perhaps people who only encounter sterling silver (925) or coin silver (900) regularly do not fully understand the appearance a lower grade silver result.

FYI- By most people's standards .800 is high grade silver. I use the term lower to denote that it is less pure than sterling. Proper "Low Grade" silver by generally accepted terminology is 75% pure or less. Terminology is a bit sketchy and inaccurate though, but hard to avoid!

thanks JBA, i don't know what mixture they were using but they tested a small area on the bottom of the base and said that it turned a blue color. I saw the color and it was a milky light blue at best. they didn't test any other area and the only reason I question it is that a dealer said it didn't look right to him but wouldn't test it himself. I dunno

Without any doubt the item consists of .800 silver. The number 9978 says that it was produced between 1908 and 1910. See "Silber aus Heilbronn für die Welt, P.Bruckmann & Söhne 1805-1973".

Thanks everyone. I learned a lot this was my first attempt at finding silver treasures. Although I'm still confused by the test result you all seem pretty confident in the hallmark. None the less for a $23 investment its been really fun learning. Should I polish them ( I have two kettles) further or leave the tarnish. The other look pretty black.

A question of taste. Personally I'd polish them, but some people like the black look!