Hallmark guide · Silver
What does 800 mean?
800 means 800 parts of silver per 1,000 (80%). It was one of the three silver standards recognised by the 1972 Vienna Hallmarking Convention, it is the lowest fineness German law allows to be stated on silverware, and it is one of Italy's two legal silver finenesses.
- Metal
- Silver
- Purity
- 800/1000
- Where
- Continental Europe (Germany, Italy and others)
01
Often confused with
- Lower purity than sterling; under US FTC guides an 800 item cannot be called 'sterling'.
- Birmingham Assay Office refers to 800 as 'coin silver', which is not the US meaning of coin silver (900).
02
What a piece marked 800 is worth
Melt value $126.68. Likely cash offer $88.68 – $114.02.
80% fine silver20% copper & alloy
Broken or unmarked pieces usually sell for melt. Get two quotes and compare them with the offer range above.
DocketYour tally
Add items to total everything you plan to sell, silver and gold together.
Sources
- Convention on the Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals (Vienna, 1972), English text in Tractatenblad 1991 nr. 16 (Netherlands official treaty series)
- Germany - Gesetz ueber den Feingehalt der Gold- und Silberwaren (1884), gesetze-im-internet.de (Federal Ministry of Justice)
- Camera di Commercio di Caserta - Metalli preziosi (D.Lgs. 251/1999: identification mark and legal finenesses)
- Birmingham Assay Office - Silver Assay & Hallmarking