925 Mark on Silver: Sterling vs Coin Silver Explained

Under current U.S. federal rules, an item may be marked/described as 'silver,' 'solid silver,' 'Sterling Silver,' 'Sterling,' or 'Ster.' only if it is at least 925/1000 pure silver; it may be marked/described as 'coin' or 'coin silver' only if it is at least 900/1000 pure silver.

• Colonial America-c.1868: Before a national sterling standard was adopted, American silversmiths typically melted down silver coins to make objects, marking many pieces simply 'COIN' or 'PURE COIN' without a precise, verified fineness.
• c.1868 onward: American silversmiths increasingly shift from the coin-silver standard to the sterling (925/1000) standard.

A piece marked only 'COIN' (with no numeric fineness) generally points to American production before the sterling standard became dominant (roughly before the late 1860s); a piece marked 'STERLING' or '925' points to production after sterling became the norm.

• Coin silver (900/1000) and sterling (925/1000) are easily confused because both are commonly just called 'silver' by non-specialists, despite being legally distinct standards under U.S. rules with different minimum purities.

The 'Sterling'/'925' vs 'Coin' distinction is a purity standard, not strictly a chronological dating system, though in American silver history it correlates loosely with era (coin silver earlier, sterling later).

Turn the piece over and light the mark from a low angle with a lamp or phone torch, which throws the impressed or engraved lines into relief; a printed or painted mark wants soft, even light instead. Fill the frame with the mark, then take a second shot of the whole piece. Do not clean tarnish off silver before photographing; the mark reads better dark. The app matches the mark and shape to the notes above.

Yes. 925 is the sterling standard: 925 parts pure silver in every 1,000, with the other 75 parts usually copper to make it hard enough for everyday use. US rules allow the words sterling, sterling silver, solid silver or the abbreviation Ster. only on metal that is at least 925/1,000 silver, with a tolerance of 4 parts per 1,000 on unsoldered articles and 10 parts per 1,000 where solder is tested.

Tarnish is not a sign of poor quality. Sterling darkens normally in contact with skin, sweat and the air, and cleans up again.

For chains and rings, 925 is the normal choice for silver jewellery; the quality differences come from construction, such as solid versus hollow links and the clasp, not from the fineness number.

Yes. A 925 struck on its own is, strictly, an unattested fineness mark applied by the maker, not a hallmark, so nothing stops a dishonest seller stamping it on plated brass. Treat a lone 925 as a claim to check.

• Look for plate marks. EPNS, EP, GP or plated anywhere on the piece overrides the 925. GP 925 means gold plate over a sterling base, which is still silver underneath.
• Look at wear points. Yellow, pink or grey metal showing through at edges means plating.
• Magnet check. Silver is not attracted to a magnet, so a piece that sticks is not sterling; a piece that does not stick is not proven silver either.
• Acid test. A jeweller's nitric acid test turns creamy white on sterling and green on plated or base metal.
• Independent hallmark. In Britain, 925 with a lion passant and an assay office mark means the metal was tested by an assay office.

Yes, at least its weight in silver. To work out the melt value, weigh the piece in grams, multiply by 0.925, divide by 31.1035 to get troy ounces of pure silver, and multiply by the day's spot price. Weighted pieces such as candlesticks contain filler, so weigh only solid items this way.

Buyers pay less than melt. MeltValue.com says the strongest buyers pay around 70 to 80% of melt on sterling flatware and scrap, and US Pawn wrote in April 2025 that pawn shops typically offer 30 to 60% of the market value of silver. A piece by a sought-after maker such as Tiffany, Georg Jensen or Gorham is usually worth more intact than as metal.

• 925, STERLING, STER.: sterling claim, 925/1,000.
• STG, STG SIL: the same claim in an older, mainly Australian abbreviation; see the STG silver mark.
• COIN, PURE COIN: older American coin silver, at least 900/1,000 under FTC rules.
• 958 or a Britannia figure: the higher British Britannia standard.
• 800, 830, 835: continental silver below sterling; see 800 and 830 silver.
• EPNS, EP, A1, Quadruple Plate: silver plate; see silver plate company marks.