well,, not seen to much now days,,,and when seen,,its like ours,,silverplated
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But in the old days most families had real solid silver service [forks,spoons,knifes,complete tea services] These usually were 925 / Sterling..
Also in the old days was the rush to polish it all when company was coming over for a fancy dinner and the 'real' silver was brought out..
I've seen at some antique stores that when the box was opened everything was black!!! Usually from being kept open too long,,,and in areas with a lot of pollution!
Sulfur is the enemy of silver!,,it will make it tarnish and depending on circumstances could actually corrode silver pieces. Silver services usually had a brown or dark cloth. Kind of feels like felt or some sort of dense [cotton?] cloth.. It is impregnated with a chemical that with just simple wiping your silver would look gleaming!
I usually don't polish. But in my early days,,I'd use a stuff called 'Never-Dull'. Like cotton wads in a tin can. Used the same magic stuff on the brown cloths as it smelled exactly the same!..