Silver plated copper

Usually number 2 copper, that's what I get for it.

One of the yards I go to has a category for "Sheet copper," that's what my silver-plated copper stuff usually falls into.

Is it actually silver? I get a fair amount of copper wire that my yard calls "solder-coat". Some insulated, some bare. Always number #2 copper. Not saying yours isn't silver, just throwing my experience out there.

Older tableware and cutlery are made from a copper/nickel/zinc alloy, commonly called German silver or nickel silver (among other names) (I am discounting stainless cutlery here)

The nickel in the alloy makes it a hard alloy that allows a durable cutting edge on knives, stops it bending the fork legs, and also aids in the electroplating of a thin layer of silver over the top.
It is an almost "white" copper alloy and any scratches to the silver plating can be almost invisible because the base metal is so similar to the plating layer.

There is no silver in the alloy, just a layer of silver as the plating. Pure silver is just too soft to use for knives and forks.
Likewise would be the use of pure copper for tableware, its just to soft to maintain its shape or cutting edge, and would become useless very soon.

I havent yet seen a yard that has a separate category for this alloy, and here in NZ, yards tends to just class it as brass (my yard classes it as stainless and it goes in their staino bins)
I just store it up now for use in the foundry later, its a great "white" copper alloy to have.

pjost....I have some of the solder coat wire that I was stripping tonight. It's older wire with a tarry kind of cloth insulation. I believe the coating on it is a tin solder. The bus bars I've seen have mostly been silver plated, but they do make both silver and tin plated.

Bigburtchino....Immulmen.....yes, I sure wasn't advocating selling them your #2 copper at that price, just giving the info that they are trying to buy it now. The rest of the story is that I found some steel platters that were silver plated and took them in to sell for $1 per lb. I told them up front that they were steel and they told me they were after the silver anyway so it was good.

Hurrikane.... Yes, as snapperhead said, German silver tableware is made of an alloy usually of copper and nickel (and some other stuff). You're right that it doesn't actually have silver in it and has caused lots of confusion. I think CraigRets has some tableware that actually is copper or copper alloy that's silver plated. It usually says "silver plate" on those.

Originally Posted by CraigRets

I watched a video of a guy who grinded the 75-90% of the silver plate off and then used acid to remove the non silver....anyone think about or try to do this before? I know it would take awhile to add up but when it did add up it would be decent amount of cash.

Depends on how much material you have . The cost of the chemical used to remove the base metal from the silver is expensive. Then you have to know how to get the silver back to its metallic state. Dont go by a you tube video. Most are incomplete when it comes to refining and you will be left with a mess and toxic waste that can not be and should not be poured down a drain unless it is properly neutralized.
If you don't have the knowledge to do this you will be better off selling the material outright.