Articles made out of precious metals are usually assayed before they are put up for sale. This is done in order to determine the amount of pure metal in the article. Silver articles may be made out of an alloy of Silver and some other metal to give it strength. Different marks may be used for indicating the fineness of the metal, maker of the article, country and year of assay. The Silver from different countries may be distinguished by its fineness. A Silver standard is followed in many countries for determining the fineness of Silver in an article. The decimal system where a decimal number indicates the quantity of Silver in parts per thousandth is commonly used.
Under the world decimal system, the fineness of Austrian Silver is .935 where the decimal number indicates the amount of pure Silver.
The quality of Silver was indicated in “loth” (12 loth = 750/1000, 13 loth = 812/1000, 14 loth = 875/1000 and 15 loth = 937/1000) until 1867 in Austria. Later in 1867, a number on the article indicated the fineness (1 = 950/1000, 2=900/1000, 3=800/1000 and 4=750/1000). The Republic of Austria followed its own marking system from 1922. Numbers, letters and shapes were used on articles as marks for indicating Silver standard and country of assay.
In terms of Antique, Austrian Silver jewellery and culinary are popular.