Nickel silver — also called German silver or alpacca — contains no silver at all. Here's what it actually is and what it's worth.
Published October 12, 2026
Short answer: as scrap metal, almost nothing — because despite the name, nickel silver contains no silver whatsoever. It’s a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy that simply has a silvery-white color, which is where the misleading name comes from.
Nickel silver (also sold as German silver or alpacca/alpaca) is typically around 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc — no precious metal at all. It’s valued for looking like silver at a fraction of the cost, and for being a good base for silver electroplating, which is exactly how most silverplated flatware is made: a nickel silver (or similar base metal) core with a thin layer of real silver plated on top. See Is Silverplate Worth Anything? for that related — but distinct — case, where there actually is a small amount of genuine silver present.
The confusion is understandable: pieces are marked things like “German Silver,” “Nickel Silver,” or just “NS,” with no fineness number, and the metal genuinely looks silvery when polished. But a real solid-silver mark always includes a purity number — 999, 958, 925, 900, or 800 — see Silver Purity Marks Explained for the full list. If the mark names a metal (“nickel silver,” “German silver,” “EPNS”) instead of giving a number, there is little to no actual silver in the piece.
As base metal, nickel silver has essentially no melt value worth pursuing through a precious-metal buyer — a few scrap yards may pay a small amount for it as mixed copper-nickel scrap, roughly in line with brass prices, which is a tiny fraction of what solid sterling (925) silver of the same weight would bring. Use the Silver Calculator to see what genuine solid silver of a comparable weight is worth at today’s price, for contrast. As with silverplate, the piece itself can still have resale value as a used or collectible item, independent of its metal content.
No — nickel silver (also called German silver or alpacca) is a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy with zero silver content. It's named for its silvery color, not its composition.
No, though they're related. Nickel silver is the base metal itself, with no silver. Silverplate is often made by electroplating a thin layer of real silver onto a nickel silver (or similar) base — so silverplate does contain a small amount of genuine silver, while plain nickel silver contains none.
A precious-metal buyer generally won't, since there's no silver to recover. Some scrap yards will pay base-metal (roughly brass-equivalent) prices for it by weight.
Check the mark — genuine solid silver is stamped with a purity number like 925, 900, or 800. A mark that names a metal instead, such as "Nickel Silver," "German Silver," or "EPNS" with no number, means little or no real silver is present.