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When you buy antiques or collectibles from a flea market, garage sale or other non professional seller, there is always a risk of receiving a piece of silver that is not pure solid silver. Usually, if the item is marked to testify its fineness (925 or 800) you can trust the mark and know it is not counterfeit.
There are other ways to test for silver, such as a simple drop of reagent on a scrape made on the surface of the object (available in any store that sells materials for gold and silversmiths). The test is quick and easy to carry out, but it needs to be done with absolute precision, using the reagent “as sold” and without any addition or dilution or contamination.
One common reagent for testing solid silver is potassium dichromate, which is sold in most stores that deal with materials for gold and silver. When you place a small amount of this reagent on the surface of a piece of solid silver, it causes a chemical reaction to occur in bright red color.
This reaction happens only when the surface is solid silver and not a layer of nickel, white metal or any other alloy. Therefore, with this test you can recognize solid silver from other metals, and if you have some experience with the reagent, you can also distinguish between the different alloys.
It is important to keep in mind that this reagent is corrosive and toxic, and should be kept out of reach of children. If you are dealing with a professional dealer, he may offer a written guarantee for the object to be tested.