I have a beautiful pair of cutlery stands in original box marked thomas smith and sons. Anyway they are not magnetic so im wondering if solid silver ? Theres the tinyest of marks on the back and im wondering if someone with a little more expertise could tell me what they are please. Infact any info would be greatly recieved.
As your knife rests are in a fitted box with Thomas Smith & Son’s name it would be reasonable to expect to see one of Smith & Son’s marks - if they were made by them and if they were silver. None of the marks you show look anything like any part of a Smith mark (Glasgow Makers Marks - T). This, together with the lack of a hallmark or a recognisable Scottish provincial mark, leads me to suspect that they are not solid silver.
Phil
The “is it magnetic” test is one of those myths that doesn’t hold up very well. True, silver is not magnetic. But silver plating is often applied to copper, nickel silver (a copper alloy), or pewter (a tin alloy), and none of those is magnetic, either. Even most types of stainless steel are not magnetic, nor is brass.
The test is useful only to rule out iron, cobalt, and true nickel.
Thats really useful information. Im often getting told things arent silver because there magnetic. My real reason for posting was to ask about the tiny marks?
To be clear: if it is magnetic, it’s definitely not silver. But if it’s not magnetic, there’s no telling what it is, only that it’s not iron.
Arh I see, shame. They certainly are elegant pieces. Imaging a table set with those at every place sitting. Thank you for taking the time to reply. 