How to know if plated item is brass?

I have read that silver plated items are typically brass underneath but having filed into a lot of them it doesn't appear to be the case.

With some you can clearly see yellow underneath but most are confusing, trying to spot the colour underneath. It can be hard to tell, a lot look slightly yellow but mainly white, with perhaps the glare affecting the colour. In other words it's a case of; "is it white or very light yellow, can't tell".

Any advise?

 

I don't know where you read that silver plated items are "typically" brass underneath, but I highly doubt that - as you experience has apparently borne out when filing. My own experience is that the base metal is more likely to be "white metal," "nickel silver" (or the regional name for same) or, in the case of items made in Sheffield, Britannia metal. All of these bases are used to make sure than if (and when) wear occurs, it is less obvious.

If it looks yellow, you may be encountering a case of copper plating under the silver plating - copper allowing a better adhesion of the silver electroplate. I don't know when that started, but "Silver over Copper" is often found on 20th C. items as a sign of quality.

And can I ask - why are you filing them?

 

To Scrap brass/copper.

 

There's got to be an easier way.

 

Nickel silver is not magnetic. Nickel silver is white brass.

"white brass" is still mostly copper and should scrap for about the same price as yellow brass

Anything magnetic goes in the scrap steel

 

Nickel is not nickel silver. Nickel silver is not nickel. I think the OP was talking about hollowware and flatware, not coinage. I doubt there was ever a piece of silverplate finery made on solid nickel.

 

Or repurposing. Upcyclers turn it into other things, especially partial sets. Spoon rings, fork bracelets, knife windchimes, etc. I just bought a bracelet that I was hoping was sterling, it felt and smelled "right", but it's silver over solid copper.

 

I don't know about all of you, but I have mixed feelings about scrapping. So many beautiful items get scrapped simply because the metal is temporarily worth more than the intrinsic value of the item. You know things go up and down in value. And some see value where others don't

Example: went to a sale where they offered many box loads of silverplated holloware, including trays, punch and soup ladles, casseroles, tea sets etc. The woman had a huge collection (including hammered aluminum as well). Although I bought a lot of it, myself and others simply could not buy it all. So one guy bought the rest as a lot and proceeded to go through each piece and scratch the bottom with a box cutter to see if it was copper for scrapping. He tossed aside the other pieces which are now all ruined. I asked another guy who is a scrapper "what's he doing?" and apparently they believe that the entire piece is solid copper under the silverplating. Above you stated that it's really copper plating. Over base metal?

Are they fooling the scrap yards? Anyway, I know everything is better off reused but it still bothers me sometimes.

 

Most silverplate is marked if it's silver over copper. That scrapper sounds like an idiot. Unfortunately, the only silverplate worth anything in my neck of the woods is the copper base stuff that can be sold by the pound. The other is pretty well worthless unless it's Victorian and in decent shape. Hammered aluminum can't be given away for the most part. I'm not fond of scrapping older silver either, but sometimes it's all you can do. If I sold it as is, I'd get about the same money and the next guy would take it to a refinery anyway if it's engraved or has pieces missing.

 

Really most of the silverplate is mass produced junk that will never be worth more than its component metals.

 

Unless you find WMF Art Deco silverplate, put it back down? Yep. Pretty much.

 

WMF is not good for scrap even. More like Melchior of the Soviet era. Too much zinc.

 

It can sell however, unlike most of the rest. Personally I prefer the real thing.

 

Above, bakersgma, said that it was copper plating under the silver. I always thought it was solid copper. So which is it? I have this thing here that is so pristine and it says silver over copper so was wondering. This is it:



I've never figured out how to use one of these without scratching it. They don't sell well for me. My stepson wants to scrap it, but it's so perfect.

You all have your experiences with silverplate, but I buy it because around here I can sell it for a nice profit. People buy trays (large, small, rectangular or round), Coffee/Tea sets, candlesticks and candelabra, vases, baskets etc. I've sold several really nice trays on ebay for quite a bit. BUT . . . I always polish it before I sell it. So if it's too tarnished (esp. where I can't see potential damage), I don't buy it. I'm listing several pieces of hammered aluminum on ebay tonight so I guess I'll see what happens with it. It tends to sell in my B&M space.

 

I said it "may be." I have personally had some 1880's US made flatware re-plated (part of a niece's wedding gift) and the firm I used here told me that their preferred process involved (after stripping off the damaged silver plating) that they would plate first with copper and then with silver to ensure the best adhesion and longest wearing finish. Whether the "silver over copper" hollowware from the 20th century is over solid copper or copper plating on base metal, I can neither confirm nor deny. Sorry if my previous post implied that I knew for sure.