Mr. Bowen has no doubt that at some time in the future, popular sterling flatware and holloware pieces will be duplicated by modern day counterfeiters. Mr. Bowen has been thinking about this matter for some time. Our particular obsession is not on the general radar. However, if and when a significant spike occurs again in the price of precious metals, ours will be a possible area for exploiting by counterfeiters.
How does one determine whether one has the real McCoy? You could purchase some rather expensive electronic equipment to test it. One could also use a specially made acid to test silver. The acid turns into a reddish brown with real silver and a green color with a fake silver item. This of course will damage your sterling.
Although Mr. Bowen has not seen a counterfeit piece in flatware or holloware, he suspects that there may be fakes produced in popular flatware patterns. Here are a couple of simple no cost indicators:
1.) The magnet test-put a magnet to the questionable item. If a magnet adheres to the item, you can rest assure that the item is not sterling.
2.) Ice cube test-place the item on a metal surface. Put an ice cube on the item and on the metal surface. If the item is silver, the ice cube will demonstratively melt faster on the genuine sterling item versus the metal surface. Silver is a great conductor of thermal energy.
Mr. Bowen is definitely not an expert in the area of detecting fake sterling items and makes no claims as to the efficacy or suitability of the above mentioned testing methods. There are other tests out there in addition to the ones mentioned above. He has written this post in the hopes of bringing attention to this matter.
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