Living and home accessories - from Carl Mertens to Sieger by Fürstenberg

silverplated

Silvered objects do not differ optically from massively silver ones. The silver plating is a galvanised surface which is applied on a core from base material like steel, alpaca (German silver) or bronze. Steel is used especially for cutlery from great serial productions which can be produced cost-efficient. We find bronze particularly with candelabras and hollowware, while German silver with high-quality silver plated cutlery. Alpaca is an alloy of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) and with his qualities similar to pure silver (Ag). Luxurious decors can be exact executed with this base material. The surface is galvanised with silver which quality is given in gramme per 12 table forks and table spoons - which are accepted with 24 dm². Then there occur names as 90, 100, 150, 180, with or without other additions. This designation mainly is use in Germany, objects of other origin have another - or none - name of the silver layer.