Featured Indian silver(?) help please...

I recently bought this little dish which after a bit of research I think is Indian Kashmiri in a chinar leaf pattern. It measures about 6 inches across. But... is it actually silver? I have been over it carefully and can find no markings at all. It is non magnetic and when I tried the drop of bleach test on the back it turned black very quickly. It has no discernable metallic smell. Is there anything else I can do to find out if it is silver? Also, should I polish it or leave it as it is? Any input would be much appreciated.

 

Yes it is. For sweetmeats.

The only way to know is to test it. I have one with a single leaf which is not silver.

What is a bleach test, and what does it do?

You can use an acid test for silver. Don't put the acid directly on the metal, but use a testing stone.

It doesn't look like silver, but it is always best to test it. It looks like mine, which isn't silver either.

 

Thanks for your reply. The bleach test was something I found when googling about testing for silver - it said to put a drop of bleach onto the metal object and if it goes black it's most likely silver. I tried it on this dish and on a piece of my hallmarked silver jewellery and they both blackened immediately. Not sure if it actually does determine silver but thought I'd give it a go just to see what happened!
The dish was very tarnished when I bought it so I have now given it a rub over with a silver cloth which is now completely black!
As I paid so little for the dish I don't think I'll be shelling out for a testing kit - will just keep it as I rather like it!

 

It is beautiful, I always like this type of Kashmiri ware. It has a strong Mughal influence.

 

@LucyLocket did you see this:
https://www.silverartcollector.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=922

 

Unfortunately that is the case with most, if not all, 'household' tricks.

 

I guessed the bleach test wouldn't really be that great! Luckily I only put a small dot on each item and washed it off quickly, then gave the spot a rub with my silver cloth - no visible harm done. But I won't be using it again!
Just noticed how brassy the dish looks in my photos - it's not like that in "real life" but completely silvery so it must just be be reflection, it was very sunny when I took the pics.

 

You can get silver acid for under $10. The trick is learning to read it. This probably wouldn’t be exactly sterling or .999 so it might be hard to know what color to look for in the acid. As has been suggested here many times by others you can take it to a gold buying place or pawn/coin shop and they might test it for you free, or for a small fee. Nice little thing either way!

 

Managed to get some better photos this evening - can't believe how awful my first ones were but I took & posted them in bright sunlight.
Thanks, but no idea where I would find a pawn or gold shop - but as I said, not too worried as I'll hang on to it anyway!

 

I test silver using 18k gold acid, I have never been able to read the silver acid results.

 

I’ve been using your technique actually. Not sure why I neglected to mention it.