What does it mean when a piece is just marked silver

Just the word “silver” is on the clasp? Is this an old Chinese marking??

“Coin” (900/1000ths. pure silver), or with numerical markings that indicate the same thing “925″ or “900″.

** Please Note- In international terms “Coin silver” is loose term, which can indicate a fineness ranging from less than 700 up to 900 depending upon its country or origin.

a great deal of Early American silver was made from foreign coins that were not legal tender in the USA with varying silver content. Only by testing can the true content be revealed on earlier pieces.

800 silver was primarily made in Europe.

After 1964 silver content dropped to 40% and finally, previously silver coins are only silver clad.

There are others, but these are their ones you will run into most often. There are several excellent websites for silver marks, such as:

http://www.silvercollection.it,
http://www.silvercollecting.com/
http://www.925-1000.com/

I’d suggest bookmarking these sites for reference, there’s nothing like practice to develop an eye what genuine and what isn’t.

The article clearly states in the first sentence that it deals with post 1840 silverware, which by the time period would exclude American Colonial silver and the vast majority of Sheffield plate.

The article does not deal with fraudulent hallmarks added after manufacture, only those marks used by the companies themselves. If you had used the link provided “www.silvercollection.it” you would see just how many American firms were using pseudo marks well into the 20th Century.