www.925-1000.com

Hello all, I am new to the board so please bear with me. My apologies if this is not the appropriate section to post this question. I have long collected silver bullion and sterling silver jewelry. I have a precious metals wholesaler in my neighborhood that allows me to purchase used jewelry that has been turned into him at next to spot prices. Anyways, I picked up a frog that caught my eye. He's got a beaded textured back with a little ring on it which made me think it's a charm. The piece is lovely and the guy I got it from is no quack. I haven't acid tested it, but it passes rare earth magnet test. I have no reason to doubt it isn't silver, but why wouldn't there be a hallmark? Would this likely be the result of a small time silversmith/hobbyist who created a charm and didn't bother with stamping it or should I be considering that this charm might pre-date stamping? I have a hard time wrapping my head around the latter. The texture on the frog is what I found most interesting. The little guy doesn't weigh much, 1.04 grams so I picked him up for a couple bucks. I look forward to posting more and sharing some amazing pieces and knowledge with everyone. Thanks.

Best wishes,
Keith

Being unmarked makes it very difficult to identify it origin. The granulation on the surface took quite a while as it follows a basic pattern, some of the shot are missing. It would not surprise me if the base sheet and the are fine silver as that is the easiest way to do silver granulation.

Is the best way to test for .999 silver to test a known piece of .999 with nitric acid to see how it reacts and then to test the piece? I imagine .999 silver doesn't react the way .925 sterling would. I assume it's Mexican just because I live in San Diego and we get a good deal of handmade Mexican silver down here. Thanks a lot for your reply.