---
title: "Sell silver cutlery and flatware"
description: "Sell silver cutlery by post. Find the lion passant, see why knives differ from forks, and send the whole canteen, plated pieces and all, to be sorted."
canonical: "https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-cutlery-and-flatware"
published: "2026-09-07"
modified: "2026-09-25"
language: "en-GB"
publisher: "Assaypost"
---

# Sell silver cutlery and flatware

Updated 25 September 2026.

Sterling cutlery is bought by post, a whole canteen at a time, knives and plated pieces included. Most canteens that come down from a loft are electroplate, made in huge numbers between 1880 and 1960, and one mark tells you which yours is.

**In short:** Sterling forks, spoons and silver-handled knives are bought by post, and the whole canteen can come, plated pieces and all. A lion passant, or 925 with a British assay office mark, means sterling; EPNS, EP and A1 mean electroplate, which holds no recoverable silver. Every piece is identified, grouped and listed before one written offer is made.

**At a glance**

- **Sterling mark:** a small walking lion, in profile, facing left
- **Not silver:** EPNS, EP, A1, nickel silver, alpacca, German silver
- **Continental:** 800, 830, 835, stamped rather than assayed here
- **Knives:** a thin silver handle filled with pitch around a steel blade
- **Worth more whole:** complete named patterns, Georgian pieces, unusual servers

## The lion, and the marks pretending to be one

Turn a fork over and look along the back of the stem, with a magnifier if you have one, because the marks are often worn nearly flat. British sterling carries a row of small punches, and the one that matters is a lion walking in profile with one front paw raised. Beside it sit the maker's initials, a symbol for the assay office that tested it, and a letter giving the year. On a piece marked since 1999 the lion is optional, and 925 in an oval with the office mark does the same job.

**Marks found on cutlery**

| Mark | What it means | Silver? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lion passant or 925, with a maker's mark and an assay office mark | British sterling, 925 parts per thousand | Yes |
| A standing figure of Britannia | The higher British standard, 958 | Yes |
| 925, STERLING, 800, 830 or 835 with no assay office mark | A stamped claim from abroad or from an unassayed maker | Usually, once tested |
| EPNS, EP, A1, EPBM, silver plate, Sheffield plate | Electroplate: a silver skin on a base alloy | No |
| A row of small marks with no lion, no 925 and no office mark | Pseudo-hallmarks, made to resemble the real thing | No, unless testing says otherwise |

The names are confusing and always have been. Nickel silver contains no silver: it is copper, nickel and zinc, and alpacca and German silver are the same alloy under other names. EPNS is that alloy with silver electroplated onto it, and A1 was a grade makers used for the thickness of the plating, not a standard of any kind. There is a fuller guide with [EPNS, A1 and Sheffield plate explained](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-plate-epns-a1-and-sheffield-plate), mark by mark.

> **The wear points give plate away before any instrument does**
>
> Plating wears off the high spots first. Look at the back of a spoon bowl where it has rubbed on a thousand plates, at the tips of fork tines, and at the heel of a handle. On plate you get a warm yellow or a pink coming through. Sterling wears just as much but stays white all the way down, because it is the same metal underneath.

## Why knives are not like forks and spoons

A silver-handled table knife is a hollow shell of thin sterling, filled with pitch or resin, with a steel blade cemented into the end of it. Pick one up and it feels reassuringly heavy. Most of that weight is the filling and the blade. This catches people out more than anything else on this page, because a set of twelve knives looks like the most substantial part of a canteen and is in fact the least of it.

- Steel blades, tines and inserts are not silver, and their weight is left out of the assessment.
- Pitch, resin, cement and plaster filling are left out too, by estimate. They are there for weight and grip, nothing else.
- Fish knives and forks often pair a sterling handle with a plated blade. The two parts are identified separately.
- Bone, ivory, horn, wood and Bakelite handles are not silver. A piece with an ivory handle is not bought, so send photographs of it rather than posting it; if one arrives anyway it comes back to you whole, with the handle still on it. The law on ivory and its narrow exemptions is set out in the [ivory guide](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/ivory-and-the-pieces-you-cannot-sell), and the policy on [responsible sourcing and AML](https://assaypost.co.uk/responsible-sourcing-and-aml#clause-7-2).
- A knife handle is described from the pattern and the construction before it is opened up, and opening happens only after you accept.

None of this makes knives not worth sending. It makes them worth sending with an accurate expectation, and the list you get says what each knife is. [Weighted and loaded silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/weighted-and-loaded-silver) shows the same construction in candlesticks and trophies.

## Continental sets, souvenir spoons and the drawer of odds

A great deal of the cutlery in British homes is not British and was never assayed here. Continental flatware is commonly 800, 830 or 835 parts per thousand, stamped with a number and sometimes a small national mark rather than a British hallmark. It is real silver at a slightly lower standard than sterling, and it is identified by testing rather than by reading a mark that was never struck by an assay office.

- Souvenir teaspoons with enamelled crests, which come by the dozen; the enamel is not silver, but the spoon usually is.
- Christening spoons, caddy spoons, sugar tongs, mustard spoons and salt shovels, which turn up loose in drawers.
- Serving pieces that match nothing else, such as fish slices, marrow scoops, asparagus tongs, grape scissors and stilton scoops.
- Single pieces from sets long since broken up, and pieces with a crest or a monogram engraved on them.
- Pieces with no marks at all, including some very good early ones where the marks rubbed away a century ago.

Monograms and crests do not matter to the silver and are sometimes an advantage on a piece worth keeping whole. Do not have them polished out, and please do not polish the set before sending it. Polish removes a little metal every time and takes the crispness off an engraved crest for good.

## Send the canteen, not the one fork you are sure about

The whole canteen, in its box, including the knives, including the pieces that say EPNS on the back, including the odd ones from a different pattern that somebody dropped in years ago. Sorting is the work. A parcel that arrives already picked over means the judgement was made at home by someone with a magnifier and a hope, and this page exists to spare you that.

- Leave the set in its canteen box if the box will survive the post, or wrap the pieces in bundles by type and put the box aside.
- Do not polish, do not wash, do not separate the plate from the sterling. Tarnish does no harm, and the sorting is our job.
- Wrap knives so blades cannot cut through a bag, and keep anything with a wooden or bone handle dry.
- A full canteen is heavy. Tell us roughly what you have and the packing and cover are agreed in writing before you post anything; [security and insurance](https://assaypost.co.uk/security-and-insurance) explains how.
- The box itself comes back to you unless you say otherwise; canteen boxes are not bought but they are not thrown away either.

There is one thing worth doing at home first, and it takes ten minutes: lay the set out on a table and count it, pattern by pattern. Photograph it laid out, photograph the marks on the back of one fork, and send both on WhatsApp. A complete service for twelve in a recorded pattern is a different object from thirty-odd assorted pieces of the same weight, and the count is what tells you which you have. If this is part of clearing a house, [house clearance gold and silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/house-clearance-gold-and-silver) covers sending everything together.

## When a set should stay a set

> **A complete canteen in a good pattern is not a metal lot**
>
> A full service for twelve by a recognised maker, in good condition, with its serving pieces and its original box, is something a dealer or a saleroom sells as it stands. That is checked before anything else happens. If that is what you have, you are told so before anything is priced, and it comes back free if you would rather try a saleroom. A mixed part set of several patterns usually is a metal lot, and you are told that too.

- Georgian and early Victorian flatware by well-recorded makers is collected in its own right.
- Unusual servers — marrow scoops, mote spoons, asparagus tongs, fish slices with pierced blades — are collected individually.
- Worn bowls, bent tines, erased crests and re-plated pieces push a set back towards being a metal lot.
- Crested or armorial flatware traceable to a family or a regiment carries provenance that melting ends.
- [Antique silver against scrap](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silverware-antique-or-scrap) sets out the questions to ask yourself before deciding.

## What happens to a canteen when it arrives

1. **Counted and photographed**: The set is laid out and recorded as it arrived, with the count by type, before anything is sorted. Nothing is cleaned or taken apart before you accept.
2. **Sorted into groups**: Hallmarked sterling, stamped fineness, plate and unmarked pieces are separated into four groups. A magnet picks out anything on a steel base straight away.
3. **Tested where the marks do not settle it**: Anything without a full British hallmark is tested, and where an analyser is available it is read on worn edges as well as flat faces. That matters because plate reads as silver wherever its coating survives.
4. **Listed by group**: You get a list saying what was in the parcel: twelve dessert forks hallmarked sterling, six knives set aside as filled handles, eight pieces identified as EPNS, and so on.
5. **One offer for the lot**: A single written offer. Decline it and the lot comes back by tracked post at our cost. Ask for part of it back and a fresh written offer is made for the rest, while the first stays open; [offers, returns and payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/offers-returns-and-payment) sets out both.

The plated pieces are listed too, by name, rather than quietly disappearing into a total. That is the point of listing at all: you should be able to read the parcel back from the page and recognise your own canteen in it. [How it works](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works) covers the stages either side of this one.

## What we buy, and what we leave out

### We buy

- Hallmarked sterling forks, spoons, ladles and serving pieces
- Britannia standard flatware
- Continental and imported silver flatware stamped 800, 830, 835 or 925, once tested
- Sterling-handled knives, on the silver of the handle
- Part sets, odd pieces, bent, worn and monogrammed pieces
- Souvenir and christening spoons, sugar tongs, caddy spoons and salt shovels
- Whole canteens sent as they are, plated pieces included

### We do not buy

- EPNS, EP, A1, EPBM, Sheffield plate and any other electroplated cutlery
- Nickel silver, German silver and alpacca
- Stainless steel blades, steel tines and cement filling
- Bone, ivory, horn, wood and resin handles; ivory is restricted by law, is not kept, and comes back attached to the piece
- Canteen boxes and cutlery rolls, which are not bought and come back to you

## Stopped before anything is treated as scrap

- A complete canteen in a named pattern by a recognised maker, with its box, is assessed as a set before anything else
- Georgian and early Victorian pieces, and anything by a well-recorded maker, are flagged for specialist or saleroom interest
- Unusual serving pieces are collected on their own and are never grouped with table forks
- Crested and armorial flatware traceable to a family or regiment is checked for provenance
- Pieces with early or unusual assay office marks are identified individually
- Where a set should stay together we say so in writing, and post it back free

## Questions sellers ask

### How do I tell sterling cutlery from EPNS?

Look for the lion passant among the small marks on the back of the stem. If it is there, the piece is British sterling. EPNS, EP, A1 or silver plate mean electroplate, and a row of marks with no lion, no 925 and no assay office mark is usually plate made to look like silver.

### Why are silver knives treated differently from forks?

Because most of a silver-handled knife is not silver. The handle is a thin sterling shell filled with pitch or resin around a steel blade, and the weight of the blade and filling is left out rather than counted with it. No handle is opened before you have accepted an offer.

### Should I polish the set or have the monogram removed first?

Neither. Polishing takes off a little metal every time, and a crest or monogram makes no difference to the silver and can add interest to a piece worth keeping whole. Send it exactly as it is.

### Is a full boxed canteen worth more than its silver?

Sometimes, and it is worth finding out before anything is melted. A complete set for twelve in a good pattern by a known maker, in fine condition, is a resale item. A mixed part set of several patterns usually is not. That is checked before anything else.

### What does 800 or 835 mean on continental cutlery?

Continental standards of 800 or 835 parts of silver per thousand, slightly below British sterling at 925. It is real silver and it is bought, but it is identified by testing rather than by a British assay mark, because it never had one.

### Half my set is plated. Should I take those pieces out before sending?

No. Separating them is exactly what happens here, and doing it at home means guessing. Send the lot, plated pieces included; they are identified, named on the list and posted back with anything else you decline.

## Sources

1. [GOV.UK — Hallmarking: how businesses can comply with the law](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hallmarking-how-businesses-can-comply-with-the-law) (accessed 7 September 2026)
2. [Assay Offices of Great Britain — Hallmarking guidance notes: practical guidance in relation to the Hallmarking Act 1973 (November 2022)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63a333b9d3bf7f37654767e0/hallmarking-guidance-notes.pdf) (accessed 19 September 2026)

## Related

- [How it works](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works)
- [Send photos first](https://assaypost.co.uk/photo-estimate)
- [Request your postal pack](https://assaypost.co.uk/postal-pack)
- [Sell silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/sell-silver)
- [What we buy](https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy)
- [Silver hollowware](https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-tea-sets-and-hollowware)
- [House clearance](https://assaypost.co.uk/house-clearance-gold-and-silver)
- [Probate and estates](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery)
- [Security and insurance](https://assaypost.co.uk/security-and-insurance)
- [Offers, returns and payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/offers-returns-and-payment)
- [Silver coins and bars](https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-coins-and-bars)
- [Weighted and loaded silver: why candlesticks, trophies and knife handles weigh more than their silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/weighted-and-loaded-silver)
- [Antique silver or scrap silver, and how to tell the difference](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silverware-antique-or-scrap)
- [Reading UK hallmarks on gold, silver, platinum and palladium](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/uk-hallmarks-and-fineness-guide)
- [Silver plate: EPNS, A1, EPBM and Sheffield plate, and what each is worth](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-plate-epns-a1-and-sheffield-plate)
- [Ivory handles, insulators and inlay: the pieces you cannot simply sell](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/ivory-and-the-pieces-you-cannot-sell)

## Start with photographs

- [Send a photo on WhatsApp](https://wa.me/447369296063?text=Hello.%20I've%20got%20a%20canteen%20of%20cutlery%20and%20I'm%20not%20sure%20if%20it's%20silver%20or%20plate.%20Sending%20photos%20now.)
- [Request a prepaid label](https://assaypost.co.uk/postal-pack)
- Telephone [07369 296063](tel:07369296063), 6am to 10pm, seven days a week