On 3 Aug 2003 04:02:46 GMT, Ignoramus11713 wrote:
The set weight about 7 lbs 6 oz, according to my postal scale.

I have no intention of selling the set as it would look great in our
house.

I have two questions:

1. How can I check if it is really silver

Do like Archemedes, measure how much volume it
displaces, and calculate its specific gravity. Pure silver
has a specific gravity of 10.49.

2. How can I clean the dark silver safely and effectively.

Tarn-X

Gary

"Ignoramus11713" wrote in message
...
Today, I bought the following tea service set at a garage sale:

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/silver_service

I paid $25 for it. The seller told me that it was made of solid
sterling silver, bt I did not believe him (and hence got my price
instead of asking price). I bought it purely because it was looked
good and I assumed it was made from some cheap metal that was silver
plated.

Upon getting home however, I tried to make some deep scratches in an
unconspicuous place in one piece, and to my surprise, despite making a
deep scratch, the metal beneath was still relatively soft and silvery
looking. The stamp on the service pieces refers to some silversmith.

The set weight about 7 lbs 6 oz, according to my postal scale.

I have no intention of selling the set as it would look great in our
house.

I have two questions:

1. How can I check if it is really silver

2. How can I clean the dark silver safely and effectively.

Thanks

Your simple test may or may not tell you anything. Often the base metal
under silver plate is the same color as silver, so when the silver wears
away you can't really tell. Sterling silver is an alloy commonly used
for such things, along with silver plate. It would be highly unlikely your
items are made of pure silver. Sterling is a composition of 92.5% silver,
7.5% copper. Scandinavian countries used different alloys of silver and
copper, some as low as 70% silver. The marks on your pieces should tell
you what they are made of. Look for a number like 925, which would be
sterling, 900, which would be "coin" silver, Also look for hallmarks,
such as a lion. Tell us what you see marked on the bottom of your pieces
and we may be able to tell you what you bought.

If you are interested in a non-destructive test for silver, there is a
solution that will react blood red when applied to silver, a mixture of
distilled water, nitric acid and potassium dichromate. Nitric acid
alone will also react, leaving a cream colored surface on the item being
tested if it is silver, but a green reaction if you test a scratch through a
plated item. None of this is difficult, but if you haven't seen the tests
done before you may not understand what you are seeing when doing the tests.
If you can provide more information I may be able to tell you more.
..

Harold

On Sun, 03 Aug 2003 00:13:27 -0400, Gary Coffman
wrote:

On 3 Aug 2003 04:02:46 GMT, Ignoramus11713 wrote:
The set weight about 7 lbs 6 oz, according to my postal scale.

I have no intention of selling the set as it would look great in our
house.

I have two questions:

1. How can I check if it is really silver

Do like Archemedes, measure how much volume it
displaces, and calculate its specific gravity. Pure silver
has a specific gravity of 10.49.

2. How can I clean the dark silver safely and effectively.

Tarn-X

Never! Worst thing you can do to sterling or plated silver.