Nickel silver is a name applied to an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, which is practically identical with alloys known in the silverware trade as German silver. Packfong, meaning white copper, is an old name for these alloys. The very early nickel silvers contained some silver and were used for silverware.
Depending on the alloy, copper content of wrought alloys ranges from 48 to 80% and nickel content from about 7 to 25%, with zinc the balance except for smaller quantities of other elements, mainly manganese, iron, and lead. The cast alloys range from about 55 to 65% copper, 12 to 25% nickel, 2.5 to 21% zinc, 2 to 10% lead, with lesser amounts of other elements.The most common alloy, nickel silver C75200, nominally contains 65% copper and 18% nickel and, thus, is often referred to as nickel silver 65-18.
