925 sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver, alloyed with 7.5% other metal, almost always copper. The "925" is a purity figure in parts per thousand. To value it: weight in grams × 0.925 × the silver price per gram. At today's spot price of £— per gram, sterling silver holds £— of silver per gram, and InstaSilver pays 80% of that, or £— per gram.
What does 925 actually mean?
The number is a ratio, not a grade name. 925 parts out of every 1,000 are pure silver; the remaining 75 parts are something else. Written as a decimal that's 0.925, or 92.5%, which is why you'll see the same metal described as "925 silver", "sterling silver", ".925" and "92.5% silver" interchangeably. They are all the same thing.
Sterling has been the British legal standard for silverware since 1300, and it remains the standard across the UK, the United States and most of Europe today. If you own silver cutlery, a christening mug, a photograph frame, a hip flask or a tea service that was made in Britain and is solid silver rather than plated, it is overwhelmingly likely to be sterling.
Why isn't silver just left pure?
Pure silver (999, sometimes called fine silver) is remarkably soft. You can mark it with a fingernail. A fork made from it would bend in a baked potato and a teapot would dent if you knocked it against a tap. Adding a small amount of copper transforms the metal: it becomes hard enough to hold an edge, survive polishing, and take the hammering and chasing that decorative silverwork requires, while keeping the colour and lustre that makes silver worth having.
The trade-off is tarnish. Copper reacts with sulphur compounds in the air, which is why sterling darkens over time while fine silver stays brighter for longer. That black film is copper sulphide on the surface. It is not corrosion of the silver itself, and it takes away none of the metal value. A heavily tarnished canteen is worth exactly the same as a polished one.
UK silver purities compared
Sterling is the most common, but it isn't the only standard you'll find in a British house. Continental European pieces in particular use lower standards, and all of them are worth buying.
| Standard | Purity | Where you'll see it | Silver per gram | We pay per gram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 999 fine | 99.9% | Bullion bars, investment coins, some modern jewellery | £— | £— |
| 958 Britannia | 95.8% | Britannia-standard hollowware; rarer, marked with the Britannia figure | £— | £— |
| 925 sterling | 92.5% | The British standard, cutlery, hollowware, jewellery, frames | £— | £— |
| 900 coin | 90% | Pre-1920 British silver coinage and some Continental work | £— | £— |
| 800 | 80% | Common on German, Italian and Scandinavian pieces | £— | £— |
| 500 | 50% | Lower-grade Continental flatware; post-1920 UK coinage | £— | £— |
Live figures, recalculated from the current spot price. We pay a flat 80% on every purity, the rate does not drop for lower-grade silver.
How to identify sterling silver
British sterling carries a hallmark: a set of tiny punched symbols, usually 2-3mm each, struck by an assay office. The one that matters most is the lion passant, a walking lion in profile, facing left. That lion is the sterling standard mark, and its presence on a British piece means the metal has been independently tested at 92.5%. It is the single most reliable indicator there is.
Alongside the lion you'll usually find a town mark identifying the assay office (an anchor for Birmingham, a rose for Sheffield, a leopard's head for London), a date letter, and a maker's mark of initials. Pieces made after 1999 often carry the numerals 925 in an oval as well, since the millesimal figure became the required standard mark.
Where the marks hide
- Spoons and forks: on the back of the stem, near the bowl or just below the widest point of the handle.
- Knives: on the handle only, never the blade, which is nearly always stainless steel.
- Teapots and jugs: on the underside of the base, and separately on the inside rim of the lid.
- Trays and salvers: on the underside, often near the rim or one of the feet.
- Rings and bangles: inside the shank or on the inner face.
- Frames and boxes: on the back edge, or on the silver mount rather than the wooden backing.
Marks wear. On heavily used flatware they can be almost illusory under normal light, a jeweller's loupe and a bright lamp held at a low angle make an enormous difference. Our UK silver hallmarks guide shows the symbols in detail.
925 sterling versus silver plate
This is the distinction that decides whether your item is worth hundreds of pounds or almost nothing. Silver plate is a microscopically thin layer of silver electrically deposited onto a base metal, usually nickel alloy or copper. It looks identical to solid silver, weighs about the same, tarnishes the same way and polishes up the same. There is no meaningful silver content to recover, which is why we cannot buy it.
Plated pieces carry their own marks, and none of them is a lion passant:
- EPNS: electroplated nickel silver, the most common British plate mark.
- EP, EPBM, A1, A1 Quality: plating marks and quality claims, not purity standards.
- Silver on copper, Sheffield Plate, nickel silver, alpacca, German silver, all base metal despite the names.
The magnet test doesn't prove much
Silver isn't magnetic, so a magnet sticking firmly means base metal: useful. But plated items are frequently non-magnetic too, because the base is copper or nickel alloy rather than steel. A magnet can rule silver out; it can never rule it in. Only the hallmark, or an XRF test, settles it.
If you're unsure, send the piece anyway. We XRF test everything on arrival, tell you exactly what it is, and return anything we can't buy free of charge. A fuller comparison is in our guide to silver plate versus solid silver.
What is 925 silver worth today?
The calculation has three steps and no hidden variables:
- Take the silver spot price per gram: currently £—.
- Multiply by 0.925 for sterling purity, giving £— of silver in every gram.
- Multiply by the buyer's payout rate. Ours is a flat 80%, so £— per gram.
| Typical item | Sterling weight | Metal value | We pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling ring or bangle | 8g | £— | £— |
| Six teaspoons | 120g | £— | £— |
| Photograph frame | 180g | £— | £— |
| Six-place canteen | 1,400g | £— | £— |
| Four-piece tea service | 1,800g | £— | £— |
Weights are typical examples for illustration. Your actual payment is based on the verified weight and purity of what you send, at the rate locked when you accept your quote. Put your own weight into the live calculator for an exact figure.
Four things people get wrong about 925
"It's tarnished, so it must be real." Plate tarnishes too, the base metals under it react just as readily. Tarnish tells you nothing about purity.
"It says 925, so it's hallmarked." A stamped 925 is a claim of purity; a British hallmark is an independent assay office's verification of it. Imported jewellery often carries a 925 stamp with no UK hallmark at all. Most of it is genuine sterling, but the stamp alone isn't proof, which is why we test rather than assume.
"Old silver is worth more per gram." Not for metal value. A Georgian spoon and a modern one of the same weight contain the same silver and pay the same. Age matters for antique value, which is a separate question: see when antique value beats scrap.
"Damaged silver is worthless." Dents, splits, monograms, missing lids and bent tines make no difference whatsoever to metal value. Broken sterling pays exactly the same per gram as perfect sterling.
Selling 925 sterling silver
Once you know you have sterling, the process is short. Weigh it on kitchen scales, put the total into the calculator, and you'll see your figure immediately. If you accept it, we lock that rate for 48 hours and send a free tracked Royal Mail QR label, no printer needed, the Post Office scans it from your phone. When the parcel reaches our Sheffield workshop we XRF test and weigh everything, and payment goes out within 48 hours of receipt.
The only thing verified on arrival is the metal itself, the weight and the purity. The rate you locked is the rate we pay, whatever the market does while your parcel is in transit. If the tested weight comes in below your estimate, you're paid on the true weight; if it comes in above, you're paid more.
Frequently asked questions
Is 925 silver real silver?
Yes. 925 means 92.5% pure silver alloyed with 7.5% copper. It is the international standard for sterling silver and has been the British legal standard since 1300. The copper is added for hardness, not to dilute value.
How much is 925 silver worth per gram in the UK?
Sterling contains 0.925g of silver in every gram, so at the current spot price it holds £— of silver per gram. InstaSilver pays a flat 80% of that, which is £— per gram today. The figure moves with the market, the calculator always shows live.
What is the difference between 925 silver and sterling silver?
There is none. They are two names for the same metal. "925" is the millesimal purity figure and "sterling" is the traditional British name for that standard.
Does 925 silver tarnish?
Yes, and that is normal. The 7.5% copper reacts with sulphur in the air to form a dark surface film. It removes no silver and reduces the value by nothing. You do not need to polish anything before sending it to us.
Is 925 silver worth more than 800 silver?
Per gram, yes, it contains more silver. A gram of 925 holds £— of silver against £— for 800. But we pay the same flat 80% rate on both, so 800 silver is not penalised twice.
Can you tell if silver is 925 without a hallmark?
Not reliably by eye. Home tests are all imperfect: a magnet can rule silver out but never in, and acid testing damages the surface. An XRF analyser reads the exact alloy composition non-destructively in seconds: we test every item on arrival and tell you what it is, whether or not you sell it to us.
Do you buy 925 silver jewellery as well as cutlery?
Yes, jewellery, flatware, hollowware, frames, coins, broken pieces and odd single items. Anything with genuine silver content, in any condition. We do not buy plate, because there is no recoverable silver in it.