Nickel silver is a bit of a misnomer because “plata” describes the color of the metal and not the content. This is a base metal alloy consisting of primarily copper with nickel and/or zinc. This type of silver is an inexpensive base metal that is similar in appearance to sterling but, again, it contains no real silver at all. It is quite soft and makes an excellent practice metal. Nickel silver can be soldered but it is sometimes difficult to make solder seams that are not obvious. Nickel silver has many other names on the market such as Alpaca silver or German silver. It is used in costume jewelry but should be clearly described as a nickel alloy since many people are allergic to nickel. We also recommend selling nickel silver as a “base metal” because the term “nickel silver” can be misleading for consumers.