some concerns about 'real silver'

belleshell

a friend of mine has voiced her concern about my idea to buy a large quantity of old silver jewelry whilst in india. is there a problem with fake jewelry and if so how would i tell the differnce from real silver and fake? old/artifically aged? also does anyone know the cost of posting silver out of te country, is this legal? what taxes comes into account? questions questions, i know. this is somthing ive been planning for a while, i hope its still pos.
thanks for the help in advance

wonderwomanusa

You will not find "sterling" silver in India. What you'll see is "pure silver" and by that, they mean the way it comes out of the ground. Much of it will turn your arm green, so if you're planning on selling it, you MUST disclose that fact to your customers.

If you have no experience in telling silver from other shiny white-metal substances, you'll be out of luck. And mmuch "old stuff" was made yesterday.

I doubt that you will run into problems posting this out of the country, since you certainly will not find "real antiques" (more than 100 years old) in the shops. What you'll find is jewelry pawned by village and tribal women.

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belleshell

tanks, im not looking for antique, i am looking for jewellry from the village women. isnt strling the percentage of silver? why would a lesser percentage silver turn your arm green?

LuAnnandJawahar

Unless you are an expert you will not be able to tell the real from the fake. Actually it all looks fake to me, even the real stuff, as they don't use stering silver. Sterling Silver is 925 parts silver and 75 parts copper (most often). In the US and England, and I'm sure many other places, anything that is "real" sterling silver will have a maker's mark. This practice is not in place in India. The vast majority of stuff you see, old or new, will be "white metal" whatever that is. Antique tribal jewelery is extremely expensive. If I were you, I would buy what I think people will like, and don't worry about what it is made of or if it is old or not.

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DianeN.

This thread has reminded me of another question that I have had. I have been debating bringing my grandmother's old (not valuable--except for sentimental reasons) silver tea service set (coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer, tray) to India and having it replated there. It's a nice set, but all of the silver has worn off of it.

Is doing something like that possible? Does anyone have any idea how much something like that would cost?
I will be staying with friends in Delhi, so I won't have to drag it around with me or worry about it getting stolen in a hotel. If it takes too long to do, (I'm only there 3 weeks) my friends could bring it with them when they come to visit me in June.

Diane

LuAnnandJawahar

Diane; We won't say it isn't possible, anything is possible in India, but we strongly advise against it unless you know beforehand that your friends can confidently recommend the person to do this. Silver plate or sterling is not so common in India and so people with this expertise are few. Also, silver and gold are not such good bargains in India. I can't imagine you'd be saving that much, and you are taking a risk. Badly replated is worse than not being replated at all.

wonderwomanusa

Higher percentage of copper and other base metals can turn your arm very green. Not a health problem, but it does look pretty bad.