About Michelle Lieberman Expertise My expertise is in the area of American sterling silver and coin silver flatware and holloware, including identifying silversmiths and makers, types and patterns of flatware and their usage. I am unable to answer questions pertaining to silverplate or foreign silver.
Experience With over 25 years experience in selling vintage silver, I now devote much of my time educating others in this field.
Education/Credentials BA California State University Los Angeles
Question Hi,
I have a 4 piece silver tea set made by Empire Colonial. I tried to find out some information about this company on the Internet but, couldn't find anything about it. I'm not sure if it is sterling silver or silver plate. Someone told me that it has to, by law, say sterling on the bottom of a piece for it to be sterling silver. Is this true? Have you heard of Empire Colonial silver? Thanks!
Curt
Answer Hello Curt. I'm not familiar with a company called Empire Colonial. There were a couple of companies named Empire though. If you want to post a picture, I'll see if I can figure out who made it. It could be the maker was Empire and the pattern name is Colonial.
Yes, if it's sterling must be marked sterling or 925 to indicate silver content. The law went into effect in the early 1900's (going off the top of my head, I believe it was 1906). Before that pretty much everyone was already marking their sterling as to silver content; there were VERY few exceptions to this (and I've only see a few souvenir spoons not marked, never holloware).
