I was working with a customer what wanted to celebrate a life changing event with three pieces of engraved jewelry. Two were bracelets with new engraving that I was able to do with no problem. The third was an already engrave bar on a chain bracelet. She also had a neck chain made from the same links. She is very small and the chains looked more like what you would see on an NBA player. She finally agreed for me to make her a paper clip style chain bracelet and I would give her scrap value credit for the old chain. It is marked Italian Silver. I could tell that it was some kind of silver and appeared to be possibly rhodium plated. I melted it all down in an old crucible in a well ventilated environment and cast it into an ingot. It worked just like silver, but I noted that it stayed white. Applying Peter’s test for fine silver I concluded that it is fine silver. After rolling and drawing it down to 16 gauge wire, it anneals well and is very soft. I will keep it separate and probably just send it to the refiner next time I send in scrap. My question is, what is Italian Silver? An internet search seems to indicate that it can be a variety of alloys. Thanks…Rob
I did a Google search.
Italian Silver can be anything, it is the craftmanship that gives the right to use the stamp Italian Silver.
It is strictly and heavily regulated and thus highly priced, so by melting it, most of the value is lost.
Now it is plain metal value left and that can be anything up to fine pure silver.
At least that how I understood it 
Please do correct me if I’m mistaken.
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I came to the same conclusion reading what I could find on the internet. The chain was ugly and poorly finished. My guess is it was a knockoff.
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