Identifying & Pricing Sterling Flatware Patterns- Fake Antiques - Mongram Removal

Have You Bought Sterling and Found Out it was Not What You Thought You Were Sold?

Identifying and Pricing Your Sterling Flatware

A $2000 sterling spoon, or a $2 sterling spoon, that is the question?


How do you know if you have a two or a 2000-dollar sterling spoon? How do you identify a flatware pattern, determine its age, and know whether or not it has had a monogram removal, if it is a modern-marriage or even a custom-made item?

The first step is to ascertain the pattern, if it is not stated on the item, identify the manufacturer marks next to the sterling stamp by checking them against a list of manufacturer's marks in the back of any good sterling flatware book.

Sterling souvenir spoons are not to be confused with flatware pattern sterling spoons, they carry very different values. Souvenir spoons will fetch a lot more if there is something special about them, such as one spoon that I sold for 1800 dollars on Ebay because it was enameled and featured the face of a little black boy eating a watermelon. The average cost for a sterling souvenir spoon, of no great popularity, is approximately 21 dollars.

Once you have identified the manufacturer and the pattern there are a few more things to check before you can gauge the value.

The first question you should ask yourself is this: Is this pattern still in production? If you do not have a book that tells you this, call the manufacturer and find out. Your item may look old but it could be brand new, it takes only a few days to give sterling a fake patina by using a crude process to cause blackening - but explaining how to do that is another article.

If your pattern is not currently in production, it is more likely to be old. Many dealers advertise the age of an item as being the date that the pattern was patented, when in fact the item may have been produced 60 years later - so keep this in mind when ascertaining the true age of your item. Some patterns such as Repousse by Kirk went through a metamorphosis three times, and these changes in the actual pattern itself help in ascertaining the year of the production; with most patterns it is not that easy. The �Jewels Sterling Flatware Index' does list which patterns are currently in production.