Like any collection that you start as a hobby or as a business, it's important to learn the basics about that particular item before spending a lot of money.
For buyers that will use their flatware solely to use for special occasions, this may not be as important. For many, it goes down to design and if you like the design, it's value now or future value may not be in the forefront of your decision.
For those that are collecting for hobby and business purposes, it's extremely important to learn the basics about silver flatware. Since it can be an expensive item, there will always be things to learn about it. Failure to learn the basics of silver collecting can be very costly.
Here are some terms that you should learn or need to know before buying sterling silver flatware.
Sterling Silver – Sterling silver can be dated back several hundred years ago and was very popular in England for many years. It is not 100% silver, which can be a positive. It's made of 92.5 percent silver and the other 7.5 percent is another alloy, but usually copper. The reason that copper is added is to make the silver harder and more resistant to knicks and scratches. This resistance helps sterling silver flatware to remain in good shape for many years.
Coin Silver – this contains less silver content than sterling silver, somewhere between 87.5 and 90 percent. This also helps to make the silver resistant to scratches and makes it suitable for circulation as currency.
Hallmarks – This is not referring to a greeting cards, but to a mark made on each piece of silver flatware to help determine its origin. Before the days of mass production, silversmiths would use a number, letters, words and even certain designs to help in determining it's origin even several hundred years back. Once a hallmark is recognized, this will help in determining the value of a piece of silver flatware.
Silver Plating – This is a common process which originated a couple of hundred years ago. Basically, in this process, a thin layer of silver is applied to an item that is made of another metal such as copper. There are a few different methods of silver plating that was used in flatware including: Old Sheffield Plating and Sheffield Plating.
Engraving – Some antique pieces of sterling silver flatware may have engraving which might indicate that the flatware was given as a gift. As with other antiques, if the engraving is in regards to a famous person, the value will be very high.
Reproductions - These are new pieces of flatware that have been made to look like the original. Don't be fooled into buying one of these pieces thinking it is original as the value will be much less than the original.
This brief introduction should give you a basic understanding of what is involved in collecting silver flatware.