800
- Struck in
- Continental Europe, principally Italy and Germany attributed, not confirmed
- Recorded on
- 1 piece
800 means the silver is 800 parts per 1000 fine — noticeably below the 925 sterling standard, and the ordinary silver standard across much of continental Europe.
It is not a lesser or fake silver. It is a different national convention: Italy, Germany, Austria and much of central Europe worked in 800 silver as standard for generations, and a great deal of very good European work carries it. The lower silver content makes the alloy slightly harder, and it tends to tone to a warmer, greyer patina than sterling.
On a piece bought in America, an 800 mark is usually a sign of European manufacture or of something brought back from Europe. It often appears with a maker's mark and sometimes with a national assay stamp beside it.
If you are valuing a piece by metal content, the difference matters: 800 silver holds about 13% less silver by weight than sterling. If you are valuing it as an object, it usually does not matter at all — 800 pieces from good European workshops routinely sell above sterling pieces of the same weight.
Available now with this mark
What this entry is based on
- one piece carrying this mark, handled and photographed by this shop Written with the piece in hand. No published hallmark reference covers most of these marks.
Nothing outside this shop has been checked for this mark yet. What is above comes from the pieces themselves and from what was written while they were in hand.
Know something we don't about this mark? Tell us — corrections from collectors are how a reference like this gets better.