Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Installing Chanelier

I was given a nice Chandelier for our dinning room. However when I looked closer I did not see a ground wire to connect to the ground wire coming out of the ceiling box. I think sometimes the ground wire is simply a wire on a washer like connector located on the shaft above the top of the chandelier??? But I am not sure. Also the wire that was loose in the box was bare silver looking wire with not loop connector (this may be the ground). It this is the ground how do I connect it to the shaft and where? Also both of the wires in the Chandelier are silver looking (not one silver and one copper) Does this make a difference. The only other thing is the box that was used to hang the old Chandelier is brown plastic or composite. A lot of the stuff that I have read states that the box should be metal and the Chandelier should hang from a shaft screwed into the top of the metal box. The old one which is heaver than this one was supported with two screws going through the round face plate and into each side of the brown plastic box. The box seems sturdy enough however I do not want to take a chance. Any advice?

Thanks

If the chandelier has any weight to it you should put a box acceptable for supporting a fan or heavy fixture.They can be mounted directly to a joist or come with a bar hanger for between joists.

As for the ground there should be an 8/32" screw {sometimes the screw is missing} on the fixture strap for the ground. Its best to attach your own groundwire & then connect it to the ground coming into the box.