0.900 Turkish silver ewer , or is it?

P

Pallyomalley

New Member
Hi there all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

A large silver ewer came up for sale on a Facebook marketplace garage sale. I bought it under the agreement that I could return for a refund if it turns out to not be silver.

Its almost 1kg and is stamped as 0.900 silver, and had been in storage for 20 or so years.

Is there anyway i can verify if it is indeed solid silver?

pics in the below link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Antiques/s/WJWOnnGs0u

None of the jewellers I’ve spoken to in Sydney have an XRF gun to test it.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
 
It's Plated, I would easy put money on it, 99% it's Plated 1% it not.

1. It's a heavy piece, solid silver pieces are genuinely light weight, only would be solid silver if it's of exceptional workmanship (which this is not)

2. It should have a clear Turkish Hallmark, such as these;

https://www.925-1000.com/foreign_marks7.html

Instead it 100% looks like a former hallmark has be completely scratched off and a new stamp put on which doesn't match the correct location, time period or purity

3. The hinge is a chunky cast hinge, usually cast from a copper based casting, not the finer more symmetrical hinges made of high purity silver

4. The inside lip is quite thick and rough, again synonymous with a copper based casting

5. It was on Facebook Marketplace under spot, I hate to say it but well over 95% of listing's on Facebook Marketplace under spot are fakes these days

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it completely looks fake as hell

This would be more what I would look for genuine Silver; but also hard with just photos;

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/vintage-turkish-900-silver-ewer-17-c-8bd4fd4ab9
 
Last edited:
tozak said:
It's Plated, I would easy put money on it, 99% it's Plated 1% it not.

1. It's a heavy piece, solid silver pieces are genuinely light weight, only would be solid silver if it's of exceptional workmanship (which this is not)

2. It should have a clear Turkish Hallmark, such as these;

https://www.925-1000.com/foreign_marks7.html

Instead it 100% looks like a former hallmark has be completely scratched off and a new stamp put on which doesn't match the correct location, time period or purity

3. The hinge is a chunky cast hinge, usually cast from a copper based casting, not the finer more symmetrical hinges made of high purity silver

4. The inside lip is quite thick and rough, again synonymous with a copper based casting

5. It was on Facebook Marketplace under spot, I hate to say it but well over 95% of listing's on Facebook Marketplace under spot are fakes these days

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it completely looks fake as hell

This would be more what I would look for genuine Silver; but also hard with just photos;

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/vintage-turkish-900-silver-ewer-17-c-8bd4fd4ab9
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insights. I had the item tested at a jeweller by XRF gun. The test came back 85% silver. However, he only tested the bottom. Is there any chance the top could not be silver? As in they welded a bottom silver section to a top silver plate section? Now I’m a bit worried.
 
Pallyomalley said:
Thanks for the insights. I had the item tested at a jeweller by XRF gun. The test came back 85% silver. However, he only tested the bottom. Is there any chance the top could not be silver? As in they welded a bottom silver section to a top silver plate section? Now I’m a bit worried.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the only real way I have found to test these is to grind them very deep then XRF as the XRF only tests the surface layer, if there is same worn areas you can XRF test them and compare to other areas not worn to see if there is a difference or not.
 
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