Nickel Silver, German Silver, Alpacca, Panama Silver, Brazil Silver, Raydium Silver, Aztec Silvor

Sometimes you find a piece of flatware and it is marked as nickel silver, German Silver, Brazil Silver, Alaska Silver, Panama Silver, or Alpacca. I have one piece marked Raydium Silver, it seems really rare. I am going to be blunt with you here, these are not silver. They may be silver in colour but they are not silver. They do not contain silver. They are not the chemical Ag.  They can only be alone or plated with silver.

These pieces are white metal. They can be plated with silver but they are not silver from Brazil, Panama, or Germany.  I cant stress this enough because I see pieces all the time sold as silver from Brazil etc.  They usually contain a proprietary compound of Nickel, Tin, Copper and Zinc. They may contain all or parts of the above list. Each company developed their own formula that fit their needs and cost. This may have changed over time and as the cost of the materials rose and fell.

Now if you have a piece that reads Electro Plate Nickel Silver or EPNS then you have silver plate. This is a thin layer of silver deposited in a chemical reaction on top of the nickel silver, white metal or britannia.

So its not silver is it worth anything?
Yes, Many companies such as Rogers Brothers made flatware in both silverplate and nickel silver. The nickel silver flatware cost less and looked like silver so it was a popular seller. For the maker it was just stopping the production of the silverplate manufacturing process early so they could produce flatware more cheaply. That is they just skipped all the plating and polishing steps. It therefore has a historical value.

It does not have a major market. While many patterns are found in nickel silver and silverplate, it is collected less. This means if you wish to sell it it is going to be harder to find a buyer. However, a spoon in nickel silver and a spoon in sterling scoop ice cream to your lips just as well.  So it has value as a useful object.

Besides in a world filled with cheap stamped stainless or worse steel, having a fork made in the 1900's even if it not "real" silver is still something most people could never dream of.

Top Knife is marked American Nickel Silver.
Second Knife if marked Solid Brazil Silver.
Top spoon is marked Raydium Silver.
Second Spoon is marked Brown & Bros. German Silver.
Fork is Marked W Nickel Silver 18.
Bottom Knife is marked Panama Silver.

Top Spoon is marked DS in a diamond Alpaca Silver.
Second spoon (damaged) is marked PatApldfor Panama, it appears to be nickel silver.
Third spoon is marked Aztec Silvor with an arrow.
Last spoon has no mark and is chrome plated steel.

Spoon is marked Wm. A. Rogers Nickel Silver.
Fork is marked Rogers Nickel Silver.