New Silver and a Mark Question

Hi everyone! I managed to grab a little bitty bit more silver to my pile now. These were in a big pile of utensils I bought as a set (resell all the non silver and keep the silver stuff). I have three spoons that have normal sterling marks, but I have one question about a fork I'm hoping one of the experts can help me solve.

If you look at the last two photos, you can see two different forks. One of the forks is definitely silver plate (since it's marked plate) but the other one I just want to be sure on. The second fork which looks the same reads COMMUNITY SILVER. Any thoughts on whether this fork is silver? I tried to do a few searches and I came up empty confirming this one:

 

both plate..

 

The first three spoons are sterling as marked on the back. No need to test.

Oneida Community is always silver plate. Not sterling.
Oneida did make sterling, but it is marked as such.

 

Or one of my husband's neodynium loudspeaker units, he has plenty sitting around.

 

If you don't mind ... what is a rare earth magnet and how does it help one make a "diagnoses"?

 

Hi Silver,

A "rare earth" magnet is a magnet made with a rare earth mineral - commonly neodymium, they are much stronger than a typical craft/refrigerator type magnet. They are useful in ruling out a lot of non-silver silver plated metals. If a metallic item is attracted to a rare earth magnet even a small amount, it is not silver. Might be silver plated, but it is not silver. You cannot confirm that something IS silver with a rare earth magnet - but you can confirm that it IS NOT silver.

 

Davey,

This is easily the coolest video I have seen today. I have seen a few videos explaining the "pseudo magnetic" properties of silver, but this gentlemen's explanation and demonstration are really great. So far I've been able to test silver using the ice cub method with some objects, and I have a silver acid kit (but I really don't like using it because 1. it destroys the item and 2. it's some pretty nasty acid to handle and I would prefer to keep my eyesight). I've also found my own in store method specific to silverware. When bent (gently of course) silver has this very nice flexion almost like it wants to be bent and shaped, whereas other base metals feel stiff and rigid when I do the same thing.

Thanks again to you and everyone else sharing their knowledge.

I bought the three spoons in a case full of other misc. silverware and I paid $29. I organized the other silverware and listed them for sale; tonight someone bought 24 pieces of reed & barton (stainless) for $60...so not only were these spoons "free" but I made $30 off the deal.