A fine silver film deposited on a base metal through electroplating. Base metal may be nickel, silver, copper, or brass.
An electroplated coat of silver over a base brass metal.
A fine silver film deposited on a base metal by electrolysis, in the same kind of electrically-charged bath used to make gold electroplate. The film can be as thin as seven millionths of an inch. A silver plate item cannot be called sterling or bear a marking of 'silver'.