Short answer: in the US, “sterling”, “Ster.” and “solid silver” should mean at least 925 parts of silver in every 1,000, which is why sterling is usually stamped 925. “Coin silver” should mean at least 900. Jewelers call 999 silver “fine silver”. Other silver content should be shown as a number in front of the word. “Silver-plated” means a layer of silver over a different metal, and the federal Stamping Act says a plated article that is imported, exported, mailed or shipped between states must not be stamped “sterling” or “coin”. “German silver” and “nickel silver” are names for copper, nickel and zinc alloys; silver isn’t one of their ingredients. A 925 stamp is the maker’s or importer’s own statement, and no US assay office checks it before the piece is sold, so read the whole description as well as the stamp.
If you’ve seen “925”, “sterling silver plate” and “German silver” on three listings that look alike, you may be looking at three different metals. The word that changes the meaning, such as “plated” or “nickel”, can sit in the description rather than the title, and missing it could mean paying a silver price for a thin layer or for no silver at all. This article is general information, not legal advice.
The numbers: 999, 958, 925, 900
Silver marks are fineness numbers: parts of silver per 1,000 parts of metal, so 925 means 92.5%. The FTC’s Jewelry Guides (16 CFR 23.5) say the unqualified word “silver” may be misleading “unless an equally conspicuous, accurate quality fineness designation indicating the pure silver content in parts per thousand immediately precedes the term (e.g., ‘750 silver’).”
| Word or mark | Silver content | Where the meaning comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Fine silver, 999 | 99.9% | Trade usage; not defined in the FTC Guides |
| Britannia, 958 | 95.84% | UK Hallmarking Act 1973 (UK law) |
| Sterling, Ster., 925 | At least 92.5% | FTC Guides; 15 U.S.C. 296 |
| Coin, coin silver | At least 90% | FTC Guides; 15 U.S.C. 296 |
| A number before “silver”, such as 800 | The number stated, per 1,000 | FTC Guides |
| Silver-plated, overlay, EPNS, silver-filled | Silver on the surface only | FTC Guides (plated); filled: none found |
| German silver, nickel silver, alpaca | Silver isn’t an ingredient | Copper Development Association |
Sterling and 925
The FTC’s Jewelry Guides list this among descriptions that may be misleading: “Use of the words ‘solid silver,’ ‘Sterling Silver,’ ‘Sterling,’ or the abbreviation ‘Ster.’ to mark, describe, or otherwise represent all or part of an industry product unless it is at least 925/1,000ths pure silver.”
The National Gold and Silver Stamping Act agrees. Under 15 U.S.C. 296, a silver article that is imported, exported, mailed or shipped between states may not be marked “sterling” or “sterling silver” “unless such article or parts thereof purporting to be silver contains nine hundred and twenty-five one-thousandth parts pure silver”, with a small allowed divergence of four parts per thousand.
A 925 mark states the silver content and says nothing about the other 7.5%. Our care guide says sterling is “usually alloyed with copper”; Jewelers Mutual, a jewelry insurer, says in its sterling guide that sterling is “typically made of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper or nickel.” For questions about skin, see our guide to black or green marks and ring rash.
A 925 doesn’t prove sterling, and a missing stamp doesn’t by itself mean a piece is fake; our guide to stamps and tests covers checking. Rhodium over sterling has its own guide, and gold over sterling, including vermeil, is in our gold types guide.
Fine silver and coin silver
Jewelers Mutual’s guide to types of silver gives fine silver “a 99.9% purity level” and says it “is soft, malleable and prone to scratching or bending”. Neither the FTC’s Guides nor the Stamping Act defines “fine silver”, so look for 999 beside the words.
For coin silver, the Guides say “coin” or “coin silver” may be misleading “unless it is at least 900/1,000ths pure silver”, and section 296 sets the same 900 standard. In its 2018 revision, the FTC said these terms “likely denote specific purity levels”.
Plated, overlay, EPNS and “silver-filled”
These words mean silver on the surface of another metal (EPNS stands for electroplated nickel silver). The Guides say the word “silver” on a coated piece may be misleading “unless the term is adequately qualified to indicate that the product or part is only coated”, and that calling something silver-plated may be misleading unless the plating is “of reasonable durability”. They define that, in their gold section, as meaning “all areas of the plating are sufficiently thick to assure coverage that reasonable consumers would expect from the surface application.” Gold electroplate has a 0.175-micron minimum; the Guides set no minimum thickness for silver plate.
The Stamping Act adds a rule for plated pieces. Section 297(a) covers articles “known in the market as” names that include “silver plate, or gold or silver electroplate”. No such article, “nor any tag, card, or label attached thereto”, may be “stamped, branded, engraved, or imprinted with the word ‘sterling’ or the word ‘coin’, either alone or in conjunction with other words or marks.”
On finishing.com in 2022, a reader in Illinois described beads that “are marked 925” where “hidden in the description it says silver plating over copper”, and Ted Mooney of finishing.com replied: “It sounds like they are not truthfully labeled.”
We found no definition of “silver-filled” in the FTC’s Guides or the Stamping Act, and the figures given for it differ. Jewelers Mutual puts its sterling layer at “about 100 times thicker than silver-plated jewelry”. In 2011 Ganoksin threads, one member described it as “in most cases 20% sterling ( not fine silver) over a core of base metal”, and another as having “an outer layer of silver at least 1/10th the weight of the metal” (thread 1, thread 2). If a listing says silver-filled, ask what the layer is and how much of the weight it makes up.
German silver, nickel silver and alpaca
Nickel silver is a copper alloy. The Copper Development Association’s alloy table lists nickel silvers as “Copper-Nickel-Zinc Alloys”, and silver isn’t one of the named elements. Jewelers Mutual’s guide to spotting fake silver says nickel silver is “also known as German silver or Alpaca silver”. The FTC’s Guides don’t mention German or nickel silver by name; their general rule is that “It is unfair or deceptive to misrepresent that an industry product contains silver”. For skin questions, see our skin marks guide.
Forum members have argued both ways about whether the name misleads. In a 2003 Ganoksin thread, a member from Eugene, Oregon wrote: “I have had many customers by [sic] nickel silver thinking they bought sterling silver.” Earlier, another member wrote: “The word ‘silver’ refers to the color, not the metal. it’s confusing, of course, but nobody is using it to attempt to deceive.” Either way, on a listing the word describes the colour.
Britannia and UK marks
The UK’s Hallmarking Act 1973 lists silver standard marks as the figures 800, 925, 958 and 999 (Schedule 2), and presumes that “sterling” or “Britannia” means silver of 925 or 958.4, except “in the phrase ‘Britannia metal’” (Schedule 1), which the Act doesn’t define. These UK rules are here for comparison only.
How to read a silver listing
- Look for a number or a defined word before “silver”: 999, 958, 925, “sterling”, “coin”. A bare “silver” tells you less.
- Read the description as well as the title for “plated”, “overlay”, “filled”, “EPNS”, “tone” or “nickel”.
- Check for a maker’s name or trademark beside a 925 stamp; the Stamping Act expects one “in a position as close as possible to that quality mark or stamp”.
- If the title and the description disagree, ask the seller in writing which is right before you buy, and keep the answer.
If a piece isn’t what was described, contact the seller in writing and tell the marketplace if you bought through one. You can also report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general; none of these routes promises an outcome.
Next step
Before you buy, ask the seller in writing what the metal is: the silver fineness, whether it is plated and over what, and what is stamped on it. We also sell sterling silver, and some of those pieces are gold-plated. If the metal wording on one of our listings is unclear, email Concierge@impervora.com and we will tell you what the product page does and does not state.
