Featured An expensive error, but kind of unavoidable

Good evening everyone!

Admittedly, I thought I was saving a really great post for today...I was waiting all week for an item to arrive that was being shipped a good distance. And so the package arrived, and I was stunned and excited. I unwrapped everything and it looked just like I thought it would, everything was just like the photos in the original listing. But as I started to unpack more, I started to question what was in my hands. That sixth sense in me was going off...not sure if it was tone, or lack of flexibility of the pieces, but I started to have my doubts. So I decided as a precaution I would test some of the items with acid. So, the bad news, is I have a lovely Persian tea set and each item in the group has fake silver marks (pretty convincing marks too). Photos of the set below (scroll to the bottom to see a little good news):



So the acid test didn't turn out great, and every single item in the tea set has fake silver marks. I don't actually think the seller was aware, because they only sent me the marks after I asked to see the bottom of a few of the items, and the marks weren't shown on the listing. So being completely honest, I would likely make this same mistake again and again as there just wouldn't be a way for me to spot the phony marks. Just to prove how sneaky this fake set it, one of the items is actually real in the batch, can you spot it? Take a look at the photos above, take a guess in your head, and scroll down.......



















So, did you guess the tray in the center? And did you guess that because it's a different tone from the rest? If you did, that's a great guess, but sadly it's wrong. The item that is real is the same tone as the rest of the set, it blends in perfectly. This hopefully illustrates that with this set, I just couldn't tell.


Here it is, I'm thankful I got one out of the batch, but it was a sad gambling lesson as the $$$ paid to purchase and get it shipped to me was around $400...Live and learn my good friends:

 

Ok what do want for the rest of it, pm me

 

Does the test you use pick up silver that is less than sterling? One of the marks in the closeup of the set of 3 looks like it could say 83 (830 silver)? But only the one has the lion mark?

 

It is still a gorgeous set, Nate, but if it was expensive....

Maybe 84? Armenian silversmiths introduced Russian marks in Persia, but they used the zolotnik marks for millessimal finenesses. So what often looks like 84 zolotnik (.875 millessimal) on a Persian piece, is actually .840 silver instead of .875.
Confusing, I know.

 

Iranian silver standards would be .900 and .840 Can't say I'm seeing an '83' anywhere, the first pic shows a center-point, a likely maker's mark, and a Persian '84' - the other set of marks include a Western-Arabic '84' and an Iranian national 'lion mark' indicating .840 fineness (used 1967-79, if there was a line around it, would be .900)...

~Cheryl

 

I was just misreading the squiggle (to my untrained eye) as a slightly weird 3. If I had known that 84 was a standard fineness for Persia, no doubt I would have had no trouble recognizing the 4. Now I know. Always picking up new info - love it!

 

The determining factor that makes me certain everything except the item at the bottom of my listing is plated: the marks on everything suggest 84 purity silver, but the difference between a scratch test on a teapot compared to the real 84 bowl were like night and day. The acid test really doesn’t lie, if something was less than sterling, I would consistently see a nice red mark after continued scraping, albeit perhaps a bit smaller mark compared to higher purity silver. For everything except the bowl, the red mark is small, smaller and disappearing completely by the 3rd or 4th rubbing. So they have a heavy plate, but I believe now the base metal is brass.

You can also notice the marks on the bowl are different so it’s clearly not from the same set even though it has the same general style of the rest. The acid test on that piece was consistently a large deep red: definitely real.

 

The sugar bowl (?) is a gorgeous thing. Thanks for describing the different acid test outcomes. I once bought one of those little acid test kits, never had the nerve to use it (probably unusable now) & wasn't sure what I was looking for in the way of results. Very helpful to read your post.

 

Thanks Nate!

 

It's a really beautiful set.
Is there any recourse with the seller if it was misrepresented?.

 

Great question. In all my time I've been hunting for items online, I've only needed to return an item once for misrepresentation (it was an expensive purchase of gold items which the buyer misrepresented as they were phonies and paypal stepped in and allowed me to return for refund).

To me, it's honorable to avoid asking for returns. I'm the one gambling, I'm the one who should keep the risk. If I get my guesses right, I get very valuable items. And if I get my guesses wrong, I lose a bit financially but I learn in the process. I'm very aware of the risks associated with my hunting online, and I'm totally good with them. So in a long winded answer, I won't be contacting the seller asking for anything, even if I thought I had a good chance at getting a refund or return. I'll figure out the best way to sell the tea set (listing it accurately as plated of course) and when my eyes tire of the beauty of the sugar bowl I'll sell it too.

 

well that sucks Mr Nate, but most of us here have done the same thing, bought items that we thought were winners and turned out to be not so good. The set it self is beautiful, you should be able to recover a good sum of money for it, plus the one sugar is silver so all is not lost (looks fabulous all polished up)

Truthfully, if I saw them I would have thought silver from the marks, so thank-you for posting this.

I can't wait for your next fabulous find, I'm sure it/they will be goodies

 

Yea, we all have taken a chance on something that turned out disappointing. That's how we all learn!