Hello Can’t resist commenting on this topic as a collector of silver tableware: -IMO the difference in look between silver plated and sterling is obvious at first glance. Sterling is much richer looking and develops beautiful lustre over time. -Odiot gold is called vermeil. It is gold plating over silver. -The silver standard in France was 950 until 1972 when they were forced to harmonize to 925 standard in accordance with EU regulations. Puiforcat’s use of 935 standard is an acknowledgement of this heritage. Higher standard silver tarnishes less than lower standard silver. -Speaking of tarnish, advising consumers to use harsh chemicals to “polish” is very damaging over time. It “skins” the silver, taking away a bit of plating. Your advice to use silver plate and sterling regularly takes care of tarnish issues. Hope this helps a bit.
Thank you! Much appreciated. I think the look at first glance depends on the brand? My sample size is considerably less than yours but some brands i couldn’t tell the difference without looking for the hallmark for confirmation. Agreed on the lustre I’ll mention that when I talk about the other sterling silver brands later in the year as a sign of good quality silver, as I’ve been told alongside a couple of other indicators. Can’t wait for your thoughts on that one. I question Puiforcat’s additional 1% does it really make a difference? It’s too small an amount and I’m not sold I would need to see it to believe 🤦🏾♀️ but I am mindful Hermès brands deliver incredibly highly!
Very helpful. One note: "sterling" is used to describe metal that is 92.5% silver. When buying silver, "fine" silver is anything above that. Though there aren't many standard percentages. You usually jump straight to 99.9%
We have matt stainless steel - it's Georg Jensen (who also do silver cutlery/ flatware), I fell for the design Viviana, simple but striking! I went for the matt as it shows scratches less than polished, most of our set is over 20 years old and my parents matt cutlery is over 50 years old, and both sets still looks great! We use our set every day, but we do have a cheaper (but still good quality) set if we need more for guests. It's 18/8 austenitic stainless steel, apart from the knife blades which are 13/0 ferritic stainless steel (the handles are 18/8). My dad's a metallurgist so he approved the composition before I invested. The reason for the difference is that austenitic is more corrosion resistant, but slightly soft. Thats fine for forks and spoons, but its too soft for knives. Not all companies explain that the knife blade isn't austenitic (which is important), but that's easy to check, as if it's ferritic, it'll be magnetic whereas austenitic isn't magnetic. We have a mix of knives with and without a serrated edge, but I prefer those without serrations as its possible to sharpen them (we do have separate steak knives though). Another thing to note, is to keep the different types apart in the dishwasher, as otherwise you can get damage (if memory serves, if they touch, the ferritic can develop pitting). We hand wash our knives, but as long as the austenitic doesnt touch the ferritic it should be okay (thats what my dad says). My only gripe about our cutlery is that Georg Jensen doesn't do a huge range of different pieces, so there aren't fish knives or soup spoons (not bothered about fish knives, but we would get good use out of soup spoons). I love the serving spoons though.
The queen of all things Georg thank you! You are an exception in terms of someone who is particular and especially keen on Georg it would be incredibly rare to be able to go through the pros and cons of 18/8 as you have done with the majority of consumers. 18/10 gets around the knife issue and unproblematic on all fronts including when washing. There are many brands that don’t explain a lot of things and most times you may find the sales associate doesn’t know much about the product to begin with! Yes I like the non serrated element that’s one of the distinct advantages of David Mellor cutlery I’ll talk about another time.
This video was helpful to me as I had never contemplated the pros and cons, nor the cost, of silver cutlery. Interesting to get educated on it all, thank you.
Thank you for the interesting content! Do you know where I can find durable and quality men's belts? I don't know if I have to go for the ones from shoe brands like Carmina for example or from leather good brands like Ettinger. I have one from Aspinal but it turned out not to be of great quality.
Hello
Can’t resist commenting on this topic as a collector of silver tableware:
-IMO the difference in look between silver plated and sterling is obvious at first glance. Sterling is much richer looking and develops beautiful lustre over time.
-Odiot gold is called vermeil. It is gold plating over silver.
-The silver standard in France was 950 until 1972 when they were forced to harmonize to 925 standard in accordance with EU regulations. Puiforcat’s use of 935 standard is an acknowledgement of this heritage. Higher standard silver tarnishes less than lower standard silver.
-Speaking of tarnish, advising consumers to use harsh chemicals to “polish” is very damaging over time. It “skins” the silver, taking away a bit of plating. Your advice to use silver plate and sterling regularly takes care of tarnish issues.
Hope this helps a bit.
Thank you! Much appreciated.
I think the look at first glance depends on the brand? My sample size is considerably less than yours but some brands i couldn’t tell the difference without looking for the hallmark for confirmation.
Agreed on the lustre I’ll mention that when I talk about the other sterling silver brands later in the year as a sign of good quality silver, as I’ve been told alongside a couple of other indicators. Can’t wait for your thoughts on that one.
I question Puiforcat’s additional 1% does it really make a difference? It’s too small an amount and I’m not sold I would need to see it to believe 🤦🏾♀️ but I am mindful Hermès brands deliver incredibly highly!
Very helpful. One note: "sterling" is used to describe metal that is 92.5% silver. When buying silver, "fine" silver is anything above that. Though there aren't many standard percentages. You usually jump straight to 99.9%
We have matt stainless steel - it's Georg Jensen (who also do silver cutlery/ flatware), I fell for the design Viviana, simple but striking! I went for the matt as it shows scratches less than polished, most of our set is over 20 years old and my parents matt cutlery is over 50 years old, and both sets still looks great! We use our set every day, but we do have a cheaper (but still good quality) set if we need more for guests.
It's 18/8 austenitic stainless steel, apart from the knife blades which are 13/0 ferritic stainless steel (the handles are 18/8). My dad's a metallurgist so he approved the composition before I invested. The reason for the difference is that austenitic is more corrosion resistant, but slightly soft. Thats fine for forks and spoons, but its too soft for knives. Not all companies explain that the knife blade isn't austenitic (which is important), but that's easy to check, as if it's ferritic, it'll be magnetic whereas austenitic isn't magnetic.
We have a mix of knives with and without a serrated edge, but I prefer those without serrations as its possible to sharpen them (we do have separate steak knives though).
Another thing to note, is to keep the different types apart in the dishwasher, as otherwise you can get damage (if memory serves, if they touch, the ferritic can develop pitting). We hand wash our knives, but as long as the austenitic doesnt touch the ferritic it should be okay (thats what my dad says).
My only gripe about our cutlery is that Georg Jensen doesn't do a huge range of different pieces, so there aren't fish knives or soup spoons (not bothered about fish knives, but we would get good use out of soup spoons). I love the serving spoons though.
The queen of all things Georg thank you!
You are an exception in terms of someone who is particular and especially keen on Georg it would be incredibly rare to be able to go through the pros and cons of 18/8 as you have done with the majority of consumers. 18/10 gets around the knife issue and unproblematic on all fronts including when washing. There are many brands that don’t explain a lot of things and most times you may find the sales associate doesn’t know much about the product to begin with!
Yes I like the non serrated element that’s one of the distinct advantages of David Mellor cutlery I’ll talk about another time.
This video was helpful to me as I had never contemplated the pros and cons, nor the cost, of silver cutlery. Interesting to get educated on it all, thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you again for the helpful content. What are your thoughts on Christofle silver plate?
It’s a solid heritage brand I think their plating is top notch.
Thank you for the interesting content!
Do you know where I can find durable and quality men's belts?
I don't know if I have to go for the ones from shoe brands like Carmina for example or from leather good brands like Ettinger.
I have one from Aspinal but it turned out not to be of great quality.
I think that’s a good idea to go down the shoe brand route.