---
title: "Sell silver tea sets and hollowware"
description: "Sell a silver tea set by post. Teapots, trays and candlesticks are checked piece by piece for sterling, plate and loaded bases before one written offer."
canonical: "https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-tea-sets-and-hollowware"
published: "2026-09-07"
modified: "2026-09-25"
language: "en-GB"
publisher: "Assaypost"
---

# Sell silver tea sets and hollowware

Updated 25 September 2026.

Silver teapots, trays, candlesticks and bowls are bought by post, and each piece is checked on its own. A tea service is often the heaviest silver in a house, and the answer to what it is sits on the underside, the one part nobody looks at.

**In short:** Tea sets, trays and other hollowware are bought by post, and each piece is identified on its own. A sterling service can come with a plated tray or a replaced lid. Handles, insulators, liners and any loading in a base are left out of the weight, and a set worth more whole is flagged first.

**At a glance**

- **Sterling mark:** a lion passant or 925, usually on the lid too
- **Loaded:** candlesticks, trophies, vases: heavy foot, thin body
- **Rarely loaded:** teapots, coffee pots, trays, salvers
- **Not silver:** wooden handles, insulators, glass liners, hinge pins
- **Worth more whole:** matched services by recorded makers, with their tray

## What the word covers, and why the shapes matter

Hollowware is the trade's word for vessels and serving pieces as against cutlery: teapots, coffee pots, hot water jugs, sugar bowls, cream jugs, salvers, trays, sauce boats, tankards, goblets, candlesticks, vases and trophies. A tea set is usually three or four pieces; a full tea and coffee service adds a coffee pot and sometimes a kettle on a stand.

Most of it is thin sheet, raised or spun or seamed into shape, with walls far lighter than the size of the object suggests. That is why a large teapot can feel disappointingly light and why the opposite — a small object that feels far too heavy — is the thing to be suspicious of. Trays and salvers are the exception: heavy sheet throughout and, apart from a wire sometimes hidden in a rolled rim, the most straightforward pieces in this category.

## Loaded bases: the heavy thing that is mostly pitch

Candlesticks, trophies, small vases and goblet stems are frequently loaded. A thin silver shell is filled with pitch or plaster and set on a weighted foot so the thing does not fall over. Some are stamped “loaded” or “filled” near the base. A great many are not, and a pair of candlesticks that feels substantial can hold a small fraction of its weight in silver.

- Turn it over. A baize or felt disc glued across the underside almost always means a filled base.
- A thin soldered plate closing the foot, with a small hole in it, is the same story.
- Compare the foot with the body. A heavy base under a delicate stem is the classic profile of a loaded stick.
- Press the underside gently. Pitch gives slightly and sounds dead; solid silver does not.
- Teapots, coffee pots, trays and salvers are hardly ever loaded, so a heavy one of those is usually simply a heavy one.

> **How a loaded piece is handled here**
>
> It is described as loaded on the list, with an estimate of the shell that is clearly labelled an estimate. The filling comes out only after you have accepted, and what is recovered is weighed and shown to you. Decline, and the piece goes back with its base intact. [Weighted and loaded silver](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/weighted-and-loaded-silver) shows what to look for before you post.

## Sterling or plate, on a curved surface

Marks on hollowware are usually struck on the underside of the base, near the rim of a salver, or on the shoulder of a pot beside the handle. Lids carry their own smaller set: a lion and a date letter, sometimes only a maker's mark. A set where three pieces are marked and the fourth is not is very common, because the fourth was replaced at some point.

**Telling sterling from electroplate on a tea set**

| Where to look | Sterling | Electroplate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The marks | A lion passant or 925, with an assay office mark | EPNS, EP, A1, a maker's name written out in full, or marks with no office mark |
| Rims and spouts | Wears white; the metal is the same all the way down | Yellow or grey base metal shows through at the high points |
| Feet and handle joins | Same colour everywhere | Plating thin or gone where the piece has been picked up for a century |
| Sound and flex | Rings when tapped; feels stiff | Duller, and a plated body often dents more readily |

Plate reads as silver on any surface where its coating survives, so surface testing alone settles nothing on a polished teapot. Where an analyser is available, readings are taken on worn edges, spouts and feet, where the base metal is closest. An acid touchstone test is needed only where the marks, the wear and the readings disagree, and only with your written consent ([clause 4.2](https://assaypost.co.uk/terms#clause-4-2)). [EPNS, A1 and Sheffield plate explained](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/silver-plate-epns-a1-and-sheffield-plate) goes through the letters you will find on an underside.

## The parts of a tea set that are not silver

- **Wooden handles and finials.** Fruitwood or ebony, fitted into silver sockets. The weight of the wood is left out; the sockets are counted.
- **Ivory insulators.** Thin discs set into a handle to keep the heat out. Ivory is restricted by law and a piece with ivory in it is not bought, so send photographs of it rather than posting it. If one arrives anyway, it comes back to you whole, with the insulators still in it and nothing removed. The [ivory guide](https://assaypost.co.uk/guides/ivory-and-the-pieces-you-cannot-sell) sets out the law.
- **Steel hinge pins, lid springs and iron rim wires.** The rolled rim of a large tray very often has a steel wire running inside it.
- **Glass liners.** In sugar bowls, salt cellars, butter dishes and some jam pots. Listed on their own and returned on request.
- **Plated pieces in an otherwise sterling set.** The matching tray most of all. Every piece is identified on its own for exactly this reason.

Nothing on that list is thrown away without asking. Glass liners, wooden handles and anything else that is not silver can be returned to you if you want them. Nothing is taken off a piece before you have accepted an offer for it.

## Send the sideboard, not the teapot

Silver in a house is rarely one object. It is a tea set, a pair of candlesticks, a christening mug, two trophies from somebody's golf club, a cigarette box, a salver with an inscription and a tray that may or may not match anything. Send all of it in one go. Working out which pieces are sterling, which are plate and which are loaded is the job, and doing it once across the whole lot is quicker for everyone.

- Wrap each piece separately. Silver is soft and two pieces rubbing in a box will mark each other.
- Take the glass liners out and wrap them apart, or leave them in and pack the piece firmly. Broken glass in a parcel is the one avoidable disaster.
- Do not polish anything. Tarnish does no harm, and polish takes metal with it.
- Hollowware is bulky rather than heavy, so a full service usually needs more than one parcel. How it should travel, and what cover applies, is settled with you in writing before you post. Ask us in writing to hold the first parcel until the rest arrive and the service is offered on as one lot ([clause 3.3](https://assaypost.co.uk/terms#clause-3-3)).
- Presentation cases and fitted boxes come back to you; they are not bought, but they are not discarded.

Photographs are unusually useful here, because the two questions that decide everything — is it silver, and is it worth more whole — can both be largely answered from pictures. Photograph each piece, the marks on its underside and the underside of anything with a foot, and send them on WhatsApp. It takes fifteen minutes at the kitchen table and saves posting things that should not be posted. If there is a canteen as well, [silver cutlery and canteens](https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-cutlery-and-flatware) covers it, and [probate and estate jewellery](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery) covers an estate.

## The services that should go to a saleroom instead

> **A matched service by a recorded maker is not a metal lot**
>
> A complete tea and coffee service by a well-recorded maker, in good condition, with matching pieces and its own tray, sells as it stands. So do Arts and Crafts pieces from named workshops and Art Deco services by leading houses. We check the marks, the style and the completeness before anything else, and say in writing if you should get a saleroom estimate first.

- Matching sets by one maker, with the same date letter across the pieces, are the strongest candidates.
- Georgian and Regency hollowware by recorded makers usually sells above what the metal alone would be worth.
- Dents, split seams, replaced handles and erased crests bring a set back towards being a metal lot.
- Late Victorian and Edwardian mass-produced services in plain patterns are usually metal lots, and you are told that too.
- Inscribed presentation pieces tied to a named person, ship, regiment or institution carry provenance that melting destroys.
- Unusual forms — wine coolers, epergnes, centrepieces, early caddies — are flagged for specialist interest without exception.

## What happens to a service when it arrives

1. **Unpacked and photographed**: Every piece is recorded as it arrived, liners and handles included. Nothing is cleaned or taken off it before you accept.
2. **Assessed as a set first**: Marks, maker, date letters and completeness are read across the whole group, because that question has to be settled before the pieces are treated individually.
3. **Identified piece by piece**: Each item is checked on its own for standard, for plate, and for loading. A set is very rarely uniform and treating it as uniform is how mistakes are made.
4. **Non-silver parts noted**: Handles, insulators, liners, pins and any loading are described on the list, with an estimate of a loaded shell labelled as an estimate.
5. **One offer for the lot**: A single written offer covering everything sent. Decline it and everything comes back by tracked post at our cost; ask for part back and a fresh written offer is made for the rest, with the first still open. [Offers, returns and payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/offers-returns-and-payment) sets out each answer.

The thing that never happens is a service going on the scales as one object. A tea set is five or six different identifications wearing the same pattern, and weighing it as one would mean never finding out which is which. [How it works](https://assaypost.co.uk/how-it-works) covers the stages before and after this one.

## What we buy, and what we leave out

### We buy

- Hallmarked sterling teapots, coffee pots, hot water jugs, sugar bowls and cream jugs
- Sterling salvers, waiters and trays, including those with wooden or plated handles
- Sterling bowls, sauce boats, tankards, goblets, mugs and trophies
- Loaded sterling candlesticks and vases, on the silver of the shell
- Britannia standard and continental hollowware from 800 upwards, once tested
- Dented, split and incomplete sterling pieces
- Whole sideboards sent together, plated pieces included

### We do not buy

- EPNS, EP, A1, Sheffield plate and any other electroplated hollowware
- Pewter, nickel silver and Britannia metal — a pewter alloy, nothing to do with Britannia silver
- Wooden, bone and plastic handles, finials and insulators, and any piece with ivory in it, which comes back with the ivory still attached
- Pitch, plaster and resin loading, steel pins, springs and rim wires
- Glass liners, returned on request, and presentation cases, which come back to you; neither is bought

## Stopped before anything is treated as scrap

- A complete tea or coffee service by a recognised maker, with its tray, is assessed as a set before anything else happens
- Georgian, Regency and early Victorian hollowware by recorded makers is flagged as a matter of course
- Arts and Crafts and Art Deco pieces from named workshops are collected for their design rather than their weight
- Inscribed presentation pieces tied to a person, ship, regiment or institution are checked for provenance
- Unusual forms such as wine coolers, epergnes, centrepieces and early tea caddies are always flagged
- Where a piece belongs in a saleroom we say so in writing, and post it back free

## Questions sellers ask

### How do I know whether my tea set is sterling or plate?

Look for a lion passant on the underside of each piece. If it is there, that piece is British sterling. Plate carries EPNS, EP, A1, a maker's name written out, or marks with no lion, and shows yellow or grey metal at worn rims and spouts.

### Are the wooden handles and ivory insulators bought too?

No, they are not silver, but the sockets they sit in are. Wood, bone and plastic parts are left in place and their weight is left out of the assessment; nothing is taken apart before you have accepted an offer. Ivory is different. It is restricted by law, so a piece with ivory in it is not bought at all. Send photographs of it rather than posting it; if one arrives anyway, it comes back to you with the ivory still in it.

### My candlesticks are heavy. Why is the estimate for them low?

Almost certainly because they are loaded: a thin silver shell over a base filled with pitch or plaster. The weight you are feeling is mostly the filling. The shell is estimated before you accept and what is actually recovered is shown to you afterwards.

### Should I send a complete Georgian tea service for melting?

Not without a saleroom estimate first, and you would be told that before anything else. Complete services by recorded makers in good condition sell as they stand, and melting one cannot be undone.

### Can a large tray go in an ordinary parcel?

Often not. A big salver is awkward as well as valuable, and how it should travel and what cover applies is settled with you in writing before you post rather than guessed at. Tell us the size first.

### Half of what I have is plated. Is it worth sending anyway?

Yes. Separating sterling from plate is the work, and doing it at home means guessing on curved, polished surfaces where guessing is hardest. The plated pieces are identified, named on the list and posted back.

## 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 cutlery](https://assaypost.co.uk/what-we-buy/silver-cutlery-and-flatware)
- [Probate and estates](https://assaypost.co.uk/probate-and-estate-jewellery)
- [House clearance](https://assaypost.co.uk/house-clearance-gold-and-silver)
- [Security and insurance](https://assaypost.co.uk/security-and-insurance)
- [Offers, returns and payment](https://assaypost.co.uk/offers-returns-and-payment)
- [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)
- [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%20silver%20tea%20set%20and%20I'm%20not%20sure%20if%20it's%20solid%20or%20plated.%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