How To Check Silver Purity | Authenticating Your Investment
At a Glance:
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- For modern bullion items, you can verify purity by checking your product’s inscriptions.
- Old U.S. coins, jewelry, and other products can be a bit trickier to verify.
- On this page, learn a few easy tips and tricks to figure out the purity of any silver item.
How To Check Silver Purity
Verifying the purity of a silver product may seem simple, but the process can actually be quite tricky, depending on which products you’ve chosen to invest in. Certain products, such as silver coins produced by the United States Mint, are pretty easy to verify. Most bullion coins, bars, or rounds include inscriptions that attest to their percentage or decimal purity. For certain other silver items, however, verifying the purity of your investment can be more difficult.
Checking the purity of a silver item is often a problem for people who source junk silver from thrift shops or bank-sealed bags of old coins. Many old pieces of jewelry and kitchenware are made out of silver, and it can sometimes be hard to tell if the product you’ve purchased is real silver – or if it’s actually made out of a much cheaper metal.
On this page, we’ll discuss a few key tips and tricks to help investors verify the silver content of their purchases.
The Easiest Way To Check Silver Purity: Look For Assay Marks, Hallmarks, or Maker’s Marks
What’s the easiest way to check a silver product’s purity? The simplest way to find out if your product is made of real silver is to look for an assay mark, hallmark, or maker’s mark. These three phrases are different terms for a marking you’ll find on many old silver products, especially products used for decoration. An assay mark, hallmark, or maker’s mark is really just a way for a company to verify that their product meets certain purity standards.
Some countries, including Great Britain, have made it a legal requirement that silver metallurgists use a hallmark to verify the purity and origin of the silver products they produce. In the United States, silver hallmarks are not a legal requirement. Instead, many metallurgists working in the United States stamp their non-bullion silver products, like silver trays or jewelry, with a maker’s mark. Maker’s marks are small stamps found on silver products that tell purchasers which company made that product. Oftentimes, metallurgists also include a 3-4 digit number that represents the silver purity of their product as part of the marker’s mark.
To verify the silver purity of an object, always look for an assay mark, hallmark, or maker’s mark first. These small letters and digits should tell you both who made the product and the product’s silver purity.
What is an Assay Mark?
Some silver products include assay marks, which are small inscriptions that testify to an item’s origin and silver purity. Not all silver products will include an assay mark, since only some countries mandate the use of assay marks on silver items by law. In the United States, maker’s marks verifying the company of origin and fineness of a silver item are common – but not legally required.
How to Find an Assay Mark
Where is the assay mark on a silver item? The location of an assay mark can vary depending on your product’s type and its producer. Generally, assay or maker’s marks on silver tableware products should be found on the ‘back’ of each piece. Look for a small series of letters, logos, and/or numbers. Some maker’s marks will include phrases like “sterling” to signify that the item is made using a specific type of silver alloy.
Make sure to look all over your product to find its maker’s mark, hallmark, or assay mark. Finding these markings is an easy way to quickly assess whether or not a product is likely made using real silver, and this strategy can be extremely helpful for investors who source their silver from thrift stores, garage sales, or antique shops.
What Silver Products Have Assay Marks?
Assay marks, maker’s marks, and hallmarks are most often found on non-bullion, non-coinage silver products. Jewelry and kitchenware products are often made of silver, and these products are designed by specialists called metallurgists. Because these items are valued partially for their source, it makes sense that the producer of a silver tray, spoon, or cup would want to ‘sign’ their creation to help reassure purchasers.
You won’t usually find these types of simple maker’s marks on silver bullion products like bars, coins, or rounds.
Finding Silver Fineness On Bullion Products
Verifying the silver fineness of bullion products is usually pretty easy to do. Most silver bullion products, including bars, coins, and rounds, include a small statement of material and fineness on either the front (obverse) or back (reverse). Because counterfeiting is a constant problem in the precious metals sector, you may sometimes want to do a bit of extra work to verify the authenticity of your silver product, especially if you’re doing business with an individual or an exceptionally small mint.
Examine the Coin, Bar, or Round Face For Details
Most silver bullion products include a small inscription testifying to their silver purity. This inscription usually comes in the form of three or four numerical digits. Depending on the measurement system of your product’s origin, the purity inscription may include decimal points or commas.
Usually, expect to find your investment’s purity listed either as a decimal or a whole three or four-digit number. The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf Coin, for instance, has a purity of 99.99%, which is expressed on the coin’s reverse as “9999.” Great Britain’s most popular coin, the British Silver Britannia, lists its 99.9% purity as “999.”
No Purity Inscription? Consider Testing Your Investment!
Some mints, including the U.S. Mint, don’t include purity inscriptions on their silver coins or bars. Private mints sometimes also don’t visually indicate the purity of their products on the obverse or reverse, which can make it harder for investors to verify how pure their silver products actually are.
If you plan on doing business only with reputable mints and distributors, you can usually find the purity of your silver coin, bar, or round online by checking a coin database or reviewing your investment’s product page for more details.
But if you’re unsure whether or not your silver investment is authentic and made of real silver, you might want to consider testing your silver at home.
How to Test Silver Products For Purity
Testing silver products for purity can be a great way to make sure you’re not getting duped when purchasing silver antiques or rare silver coins, bars, or rounds. Counterfeiting operations all over the world are becoming more sophisticated, and even some of the most reputable mints on the planet have taken extra steps to ensure that their coins and bars are difficult for criminals to replicate.
If you want to test your silver products to see how pure they really are, you have three main options:
- Test using weight.
- Test using a silver testing machine.
- Reach out to an expert.
For most silver products, weight is your best indicator of whether or not your investment contains actual silver. Silver testing machines can be pricy but provide a reliable way to test hundreds – or thousands – of silver items. If all else fails, reaching out to an expert can help you verify that your silver is really silver.
For Circulation Coins, Weight Won’t Lie!
Many people who have questions about the silver content of their investments are referring to U.S. currency coins, often referred to as ‘junk silver.’ For junk silver coins, verifying silver content using the weight method is a viable strategy. Like all other metals, silver has a relatively unique density. This means that two coins that are the exact same width and height will have two different weights if one is made of silver and another with different metals.
Coins made with silver typically weigh more than coins made with other, cheaper metals. The easiest way to verify a coin’s silver content using the weight system is to weigh a silver coin against a non-silver coin from the same series. If both coins have the same dimensions but one coin weighs considerably more, then that coin is probably made of silver.
Online forums and coin catalogs can make the weight test even easier for investors who want to make sure their junk silver coins are actually made of silver. Coin catalogs will usually tell you the approximate weight of a silver coin from a given year and denomination. If your coin matches this weight and set of dimensions, it’s probably silver!
To use the weight method to verify a coin’s silver content, be sure to use a precise scale. If you’re attempting to contrast the weight of two separate coins, make sure you ‘zero out’ the scale before weighing the second coin.
Are Silver Testing Machines Worth It?
Silver testing machines can be a reliable way to assess the precise silver content of many silver products, but they’re a pretty costly investment. We recommend buying a silver testing machine only if you plan on investing quite a bit of money into silver. Silver testing machines are a great option for investors who frequently buy silver flatware, kitchenware, or jewelry from non-traditional sources, such as thrift shops or antique stores.
If you have only a passing question of purity about one silver coin you’ve come across, a silver testing machine is probably a poor investment. After all, you won’t get your money’s worth if you only plan on testing a single silver coin.
When In Doubt, Reach Out For Help!
Sometimes, the weight test won’t answer your questions about a silver product’s purity. After all, certain old U.S. coins offer a wide margin for error for weight, and the difference in weight from one coin to another could be as simple as a minting error. In cases where you just can’t verify a coin’s silver content at home but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a testing machine, it’s never a bad idea to reach out to an expert.
Many coin shops will be able to quickly confirm that your coin is an authentic silver product. For jewelry, some jewelers may be willing to take a look at your item to verify that it is legitimate and made of real silver. Even if you don’t have the skills necessary to authenticate a silver coin, jewelry piece, bar, or round, chances are that there’s an expert in your area who might be willing to help you out.
Final Thoughts: How To Verify Your Investment’s Silver Purity
Most first-time silver investors obsess over whether or not their silver coin, bar, or round is actually made using real silver. Thanks to recent advancements in anti-counterfeiting technology, consumers who purchase popular coins from reputable mints and distributors usually have nothing to worry about.
Still, we’ve all been there before. You pick up a silverish plate, tray, or piece of jewelry for cheap at a thrift store, and now you want to know if it’s really made of the valuable precious metal we all love. In the United States, it’s not a legal requirement for metallurgists to include an assay or hallmark on their products to verify their silver content. Still, most U.S. silver metallurgists place small maker’s marks on their creations that investors like yourself can use to make sure these products contain actual silver.
Even if your silver product doesn’t include one of these telltale marks, you may be able to use the weight test, a silver testing tool, or even a professional’s help to make sure that you haven’t been duped by fake silver!
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About The Author
Michael Roets
Michael Roets is a writer and journalist for Hero Bullion. His work explores precious metals news, guides, and commentary.