Cake server

[amena]

I have this cake server, Malaysian or Indonesian style.
It’s made of metal, it looks like metal and it was sold as metal. It’s not even silver plated, but has a 90 mark.
I wonder if it was done to deceive or has some other meaning
Thanks
Amena

[oel]

Hi,

Imitation of Yogya silver, made from "tembaga putih" or kind of "alpaca" ( alpaca= 60%copper alloy with nickel and often zinc) and perhaps original silver-plated, in Dutch known as "papegaaienzilver".
However the 90 mark is used in Holland and other European countries to indicate the amount of pure silver used to plate a certain amount of electroplated products (end products).
For more information see:
http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_H3.html

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=19757


Oel

[amena]

Thank you for your opinion. I am sure this cake server has never been silver plated. But your observation make me think that maybe it was meant to be plated, and then for some reason it was not.
Regards
Amena

[dognose]

Hi Amena,

It could be that the plating had become worn and the owner decided to have the rest of the plate removed. I believe that the removal process is quite a simple one, just that of reversing the polarity that is used during the normal plating process.

Trev.

[amena]

If my memories of the chemistry course do not deceive me, it should not be as simple as you describe. I'll check, and if I’ll have certain informations, I’ll post here.
Regards
Amena

[amena]

Hi Trev
I was finally able to contact the best artistic plater in my city.
He has the shop in the very city center, that I attend almost exclusively on weekends.
I posed the question to him and he told me that : yes, theoretically the plating could be removed reversing the polarity , but no one would do such a thing.
The removal would not be uniform, because this method also erode the base metal, and also the plating bath, which is very expensive, would be polluted and no more usable. The system that is used to strip an item, is to immerse the object in a special acid made for that purpose, that removes only the silver film.
Regards
Amena

[dognose]

Hi Amena,

Many thanks for finding out and posting this information. I hadn't given a thought to how the base metal would also transfer from the piece and corrupt the other parts, but now I know.

Regards, Trev.