Fast Eddie, there are commercial kits available to test for silver, but they're pretty pricey. Best and easiest, maybe to take it to your local jewellers and have someone take a look. Or, if you are reluctant to face the possible embarrassment of bringing in a peice of aluminum, you might try these home cooked tests below.
from the link below:
That's a great test, but it really doesn't meet my needs. I'm working
| via email with someone remotely and am not real comfortable recommending
| a test that produces a strong toxic vapor when I am unsure of the skills
| of my correspondent.
Yes, we don't want a liability suit ;-)))
| But it did give me an inspiration.
|
| Placing some (powdered) sulfur on a silver surface, and wrapping it
| tightly in paper for a few days to a week, will give black spots of
| silver sulfide on the (brightly polished) silver surface where the
| sulfur is in contact. And as you indicated, ammonia will clean it off
| again. Safe, non-toxic, and using materials that are easily obtainable.
I even have a simpeler and probably faster one:
Rub the silver witch a freshly cut piece of onion or garlic... I should turn
brown in a few second due to the sulfur compounds that cause the specific
smell of these "vegetables" (mercaptanes).
| That led me to boiling calcium oxide (lime) with raw egg white and a
| silver sample, which will also produce silver sulfide (egg whites
| contain sulfur, released by the lime and heat). But this test is less
| reliable.
How older the egg how better it works... The Chinese would burry an egg and
a piece of silver for about 100 years. Then the grand grand children would
unearth the egg, eat the egg and wonder what the black corroded stuff is
that was burried next to the egg...
http://lists.drizzle.com/pipermail/rockhounds/2003-April/003071.html
