German Silver or Nickel Silver is a metal alloy of copper with nickel and often but not always zinc. It is named for its silvery appearance, but contains no elemental silver. Other common names for this alloy are Paktong, New Silver and Alpacca. Be aware that if you are looking for real true elemental silver to avoid these types as there is no silver content at all.

Many alloys fall within the general term of “Nickel Silver”. All contain copper and nickel, while some formulations may additionally include zinc, antimony, tin, lead or cadmium. A representative industrial formulation, Alloy No. 752, is 65% copper, 18% nickel, and 17% zinc. In metallurgical science, such alloys would be more properly termed nickel brass. The white alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel used in coins, such as the United States nickel, is better known as copper-nickel, cupro-nickel or cupronickel.

Some nickel silver alloys, especially those containing high proportions of zinc, are stainless (corrosion-resistant).

Nickel silver alloys are commonly named by listing their percentages of copper and nickel, thus “Nickel Silver 55-18″ would contain 55% copper, 18% nickel, and 27% other elements, most probably entirely zinc. A two-element alloy may be named for its nickel content alone, thus NS-12 is 88% copper and 12% nickel