Quick question, does anybody know of silverware that is made from pure silver and not sterling? Am after a set of spoons knives and forks but everything seems to be sterling. Would rather a softer object without the copper and whatever else they put into sterling.
I haven't seen any and I think the reason would be that pure silver would be too soft for that type of use. That's why people don't wear chains or rings that are 999 because of that
Mate.. even sterling is not really up to the task for Cutlery.. i have snapped two antique spoons in the last two years.. just too soft.. id say the .800 fine stuff is about as high purity as youd want.. silver is just too soft to be usable. Also we were finding it conducts heat so well we couldnt use them as they burnt our hands with hot food/drink. I have a lovely Sterling Honey spoon and sugar spoon but am careful not to use them for other tasks else they will surely break. 1for1
Most of the cutlery I have seen has stainless steel knife blades with sterling silver handles, some of the handles have been hollow and just filled with plaster or something to give them weight. We pretty much just use sterling silver serving spoons.
I have come across a small amount here and there at the trash and treasure. Only downfall is they treat it like treasure so you will pay a high price
America for modern (up to the 50s-60s) http://www.antiquecupboard.com/ and Europe for the older stuff. Really expensive though, not a good way to stack for investment purposes.
Just recently aquired a couple of stirling tea spoons, think they are great. Looking for more. Wonder is they make pure silver cups or water bottles. Thinking about maximizing those nano particles and growing the stack at the same time.
You can get sterling silver flasks (aka "hip flasks" and "hunting flasks" etc) some of which incorporate or include small cups, but you can also get small cups, goblets etc in sterling. I still have some of my christening silver goblets (somewhere). One word of caution, they are NOT cheap. If you think the markup / premium on flatware and cutlery is bad, wait till you start looking at sterling flasks...
As kids the silver stuff was considered old junk, even though this was the 80's. My parents had no idea of the value of silver. So we used the spoons as levers to ply off the tyres on our bikes, and when they were too bent we simply threw them away. Sob!
Be careful as silverplate hallmarks can be very similar to sterling - I thought I'd found a bargain but jewellers loupe showed otherwise. Sets are often in both finishes, especially the spoons with sugar tongs and coffee bean spoons on ebay. see http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate__Init_A.html