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It's as important to understand and recognize the pieces you desire, as much as it is to own them. In the most simple terms, "value" goes hand in hand with quality, composition, rarity, and condition.
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When making the assessment, there are a few things to realize and understand. A simple stamp and/or "maker's mark" can give you a lot of insight behind the piece, the era it came from, and/or the maker who produced it. To understand material content, the piece must be marked as such, or it has to be acid-tested / jeweler-confirmed:
Solid Sterling: If marked exclusively "sterling" means that the piece is at least 92.5% [solid] sterling silver, entirely. The engraving looks buttery-smooth, because real silver is a relatively soft metal. Buckles are sometimes purposefully not designed in solid sterling silver to preserve structural integrity. However, solid sterling is generally the most valuable in both ore weight and for collection purposes.
Sterling Overlay: Marked "sterling overlay" or "sterling overlaid" means the piece is cast in a general shape underneath for weight and structure, dipped into >92.5% sterling silver multiple times, then finally hand engraved. From the outside, many cannot tell if a piece is solid sterling or overlaid, because the exterior silver content layer is the exact same as the piece that is made purely of silver.
Silver Plate: "Silver plate" or "silver plated" is an interesting method where a piece is cast or pre-engraved, then a super thin silver solution is bonded to the piece, electromagnetically (also known as electroplating). You can NOT polish silver plated pieces, in risk of taking off the extremely fragile layer of silver down to the metal underneath. Silver plating requires a protective plastic varnish to keep from oxidizing. Over time, silver plate varnish turns yellow and the fragile silver appears scratched or rubbed. It is known as a newer-age method, and while can still be pretty, is not thought of as collectable or adhering to traditional maker methods.
German Silver or Alpaca Silver: Anything marked "German silver" "nickel silver" or "Alpaca" is actually not silver at all. This is composed of mixed alloys of predominantly nickel, and would be less than 10% sterling silver. It does overlay, inlay, and tarnish, and many engravers may do a piece out of German silver for economical reasons.
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Silver Hallmarks: Sterling Hallmarks may be used in place of a makers mark and can be letters, numbers, a small logo, etc. A ".925" stand-alone hallmark indicates that the product is >92.5% sterling silver. "214" is a Dick Fleming hallmark; "GP01" is a Vogt Hallmark; etc. Hallmarks may be used in obscure or small paces where a maker's logo could not be placed. Sometimes these hallmarks were used for special saddleshop builds to streamline brands with less confusion.
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