Yes, we buy silverplate

Every major Canadian buyer refuses EP and EPNS in writing. We accept it, by the pound, by mail, at flat published rates. Here is exactly how it works and what it is honestly worth.

What we pay for silverplate

$10.00 per pound for silver plated flatware. $7.00 per pound for silver plated holloware (teapots, trays, candlesticks; quadruple plate and Britannia metal holloware counts as holloware). $3.50 per pound for silver plated knives (non-magnetic handle). Flat, published, and honoured on every parcel. Knives have their own rate because most of a knife's weight is its blade and filled handle, not silverplate. Weighted or filled non-knife pieces (cement-filled candlesticks and the like) are paid on recoverable material, and the deduction shows on your itemized receipt. Prices are subject to market changes.

Two honest facts up front, because the rest of the industry will not tell you either one:

  • Silverplate contains very little silver. The plating layer is thin, so plate is worth a small flat amount per pound as recyclable material, not a per-gram silver price. Anyone offering to buy your plate "as silver" is confused or worse.
  • It is still worth something, and nobody else in Canada will take it by mail. Instead of hauling the chest to a donation bin, box it up. It gets recycled properly, you get paid the published rate, and any solid sterling hiding in the box gets caught on camera and quoted to you separately at the sterling rate. That happens more often than you would think.

How to recognize silverplate marks

Every one of these is drawn out at a readable size, with the traps that catch people, on our what is my silver worth page.

Silverplate is a thin layer of pure silver electroplated over a base metal, usually nickel silver (which contains no silver at all) or Britannia metal. The marks give it away:

  • EP: electroplate.
  • EPNS: electroplated nickel silver, the most common mark of all.
  • EPBM: electroplated Britannia metal.
  • EPC or Silver on Copper: plate over copper, common on trays and tea sets.
  • A1, AA, Triple Plate, Quadruple Plate: plating-thickness grades, all plate.
  • "Silverplate", "Plated", "Nickel Silver", "German Silver": as stated. Nickel silver and German silver contain zero silver.
  • 1847 Rogers Bros.: the famous one. The 1847 is a founding date, not a year of manufacture, and everything under this name is plate.
  • Wm Rogers, Rogers & Bro., Wm A Rogers: the wider Rogers family of marks, plate.
  • Community, Community Plate, Oneida Community: plate lines from Oneida.
  • Holmes & Edwards, Deep Silver, Inlaid: International Silver plate lines.
  • Regency Plate: the Canadian classic; plate, despite the trusted jewellery-house name on it.
  • Sheffield Plate, Made in Sheffield with EP: English plate.
  • Hotel plate: heavy restaurant and railway pieces, often marked with the hotel or railway name. Plate, but heavy and worth sending.

No mark at all? Older plate sometimes lost its mark to polishing. A magnet test helps a little (silver is not magnetic, but neither are several base metals). When in doubt, email photos to contact@silverplatecanada.ca before you ship and we will tell you honestly what you have.

One important exception

If a piece says STERLING, 925, or carries a lion passant hallmark, stop: that is solid silver, worth many times more than plate. It belongs on the sterling flatware page and is quoted to you in writing before anything is processed. Mixed boxes are welcome; every parcel is sorted piece by piece on camera and each category is paid at its own correct rate on your receipt. That sorting is exactly why the "worthless" silverplate box so often pays for itself.

Want the deeper explanation of values? Read the guide: what is silverplate actually worth?