# Buying Sterling Silver For Extra Prep Cash



## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

Forgive me if I get a little long winded here. I'll be trying to be as clear as possible, so be sure to ask for clarification on all of the things that I confuse you with.

Buying sterling silver items to resell can be a good way to make a little extra prep cash. Also, should the economy tank and extra money is needed, occasionally selling some of the "family silver" may draw a lot less unwanted scrutiny than selling silver bullion or coins. I have been buying silver items at yard sales and flea markets for a number of years as a way to make a little extra cash. I thought that I'd pass along what I have learned while doing so in case others may like to do the same.

Sterling silver refers to an alloy of silver that is 92.5% silver by mass, and the remainder being other metals. There are several different alloys of silver that you may run across, but sterling is the most common. Below are some of the types that you may come across.










My normal places to purchase silver are yard sales, flea markets, and eBay. The strange thing about eBay, is that it also where I sell some of my silver. Items that I look for include, but are not limited to, jewelry, salt and pepper shakers, candle holders, serving dishes and compotes, and flatware.
Before I leave home, I first check the current price of silver and gold. In the "old days" I carried a cheat sheet with me so that I didn't make a mistake. It was a business card on which I printed the current spot prices and values per gram for the different alloys of gold and silver. These days I just check the current spot price and trends on my phone. I carry a digital pocket scale that weighs in troy ounces and grams, a dual power jeweler's loupe, and a gold and silver test kit in the vehicle. I look through all of the costume jewelry, flatware, and items like candlesticks and salt and pepper shakers looking for hallmarks indicating silver or gold. When just starting out, I would recommend that if it doesn't say 925, sterling, etc., don't buy it, at least that is until you get more confident and buy a test kit.

Most people don't keep up with the price of silver and gold and tend to prices things either real low or way too high. Knowing the spot prices and how that relates to the different alloys of silver (like 800, 900, 925, and fine), and the different karats of gold (8k - 24k) can give you a great position to haggle from. If they price it low. then great. If it is too high, then use your knowledge to try to negotiate a realistic price. On a couple of occasions I have found expensive items marked as costume jewelry, in those cases I am honest with the seller and let them know what the value actually is. I love making money as much as the next guy, but I'm not out to cheat anyone. I don't want someone to lose grandma's 18k and diamond brooch thinking it was only a costume piece (actually happened).

If an item is something that I will definitely scrap, such as an item that is broken or otherwise damaged, then I try not to pay any more than about 50% of the current scrap value. However, there are many items that can be re-sold at flea markets, Craigslist, or eBay at a premium over their scrap value. I advertise my scrap on Craigslist at 100% full value, and sometimes I end up selling on eBay. If you put "Scrap Sterling Silver" in the title of the eBay ad, you can sometimes get 90% to over 100% of the scrap value, depending on the market. Other times however, you may not get anywhere near scrap value. It is after all, an auction and the results can be quite unpredictable. You can put a reserve price on the auction, but unless you are selling a decent amount of silver, the fees may negate any gains. For lots of 1000 grams or more, my preferred method of selling is to a refiner/smelter. There are some that will pay 90% of the silver value and offer a variety of methods of paying, such as by check, bank wire, .999 fine bars and rounds, or a combination of methods.

Nice, basic jewelry usually gets listed on Craigslist for a minimum of twice the scrap value, but quite a lot more for vintage or quality pieces. If it doesn't sell, I'll add it to my eBay pile. I wait until I have a nice collection and then put it all into one lot. I'll usually get more than scrap value from someone looking to resell. If it is high quality, vintage, or unique jewelry I'll list it separately. Sometime back I picked up a beautiful Navajo Slave Bracelet that was worth about $75 scrap, but on eBay I was able to get almost $175.

For items like salt shakers, candlesticks, compotes, bowls, cups, etc., that are in great shape, it's Craigslist first and eBay then if they go unsold. If these items are bent, dented, or otherwise flawed, then they go to scrap.
A couple of things about selling on eBay. Over the years I have "sniped" (waited until the last seconds to bid, and thus not given someone the opportunity to out bid me) a few items and it has created some sore losers. I have received a few nasty notes from auction losers threatening to mess with my auctions (and there are ways to screw with people on eBay. For that reason I maintain separate buyer's and seller's accounts.
Also, if you're careful you can catch good items at a cheap price, clean them up, and resell them for a profit. Below is one such example.









I purchased these four Duchin shakers on eBay for $22.50 (including shipping), cleaned them up and resold them for just over $40.

Except in rare cases, if the item is not marked 800, 900, 925, coin, sterling, or otherwise hallmarked, then it is most likely silver plated. There are other markings, the Lion hallmark on sterling from England being the most common. However, you don't see these too often at yard sales and flea markets in the US. If the seller insists that an item is sterling and it isn't marked, I ask if they'll agree to let me test it with my kit. Basically, this involves rubbing the item in an inconspicuous spot on a stone, and then using acid to determine the purity of the metal. A lot of times you can see the base metal under the plating of the item as soon as it is rubbed on the stone, and the acid test becomes a mute point. After a while it gets a bit easier to spot plated items by the way the look and feel, and by the way they tarnish. However, it is always best to check for sure.

Some will tell you to use a magnet to check for sterling, but only the very cheapest plated items are attracted to a magnets. Most plated items of any quality will be plated copper, brass or some other non-ferrous alloy, and they will not be attracted to a magnet.

When buying items such as salt shakers, candle sticks, compotes, etc., be sure to notice if it says "Weighted" or "Reinforced". What Weighted means is that some substance (sometimes concrete) has been added internally to give the item more heft and to help stabilize it. This enables manufacturers to use very thin silver sheeting to form the item, and it still feels nice and solid. Reinforced means that a stiff substance, like a steel rod, has been added to the body to make the item stronger. To give an example, an average sized compote may weigh in the area of 175 to 200 grams. Once the weighting material and the reinforcing rod has been removed, so that the item can be scrapped, you may only end up with around 65 to 80 grams of sterling silver. That's still not bad considering that I can generally pay about $15 dollars for a scrap compote, and currently it sells for around $0.68 per gram. Be prepared to calmly explain what weighted and reinforced means to a seller that believes the entire weight of an item is silver.

There are a lot of items, like cutlery, that are marked sterling, but this only refers to the handle. Most of the weight is in the stainless knife and a reinforcing bar inside of the handle. So you have to be careful not to pay too much for these.

If you decide to sell your silver to a refiner/smelter, they may require you to "clean" your silver before shipping. This means that all of the weighting material, reinforcing rods, glass inserts, etc., have to be separated out before you ship it to them. I have found that by far the easiest way is to use a "Dremel" tool with a thin "cut off" blade. I make a straight cut up the side of an item, and then just peel back the silver. You may lose a small amount of silver, but you save a lot of time. No matter which method you use, be sure to wear work gloves and wear goggles. The thin silver can be very sharp, and small pieces of the other materials can damage your eyes. Once all of the foreign materials have been removed, I just smash the pieces flat to save room in the shipping box.

I would recommend keeping a record of the type of items (candle holder, salt shaker, etc.), manufacturer, the size of the items (height, width, etc.), and original weight. Then, once the item has been cleaned of weighting and reinforcing materials, record the weight of the silver. This way you will learn what to expect in the way of return for your investment. As an example, a Empire brand, weighted salt shaker that was 5 inches tall, and had a base of 1 3/4 inches across, weighed approximately 52 grams before cleaning. After cleaning it yielded 21 grams of sterling silver, or $12.28.

At the time that I am writing this silver is around $23 per Troy Ounce. $23 per ounce times .925 equals $21.275 per Troy Ounce for sterling, $21.275 divided by 31 (approximate number of grams in an Troy Ounce) equals $0.68. At 68 cents per gram, that equaled to about $12.28 in silver.

One last thing. There is a LOT of really cheap crap (especially the smaller chains and a lot of pendants) coming out of China these days that is marked 925 or sterling, but is actually plated. Some of the chains will be attracted to a magnet. Just be sure to check the center of the chains, away from the hasps and connectors. A lot of good sterling chains will have small steel springs to make the connectors function, and those springs will be attracted to the magnet.

Buying silver items can be fun and rewarding. Just remember to be fair and not take advantage of people, take into account your costs for selling, and to be prepared to walk away from an item if it doesn't make good financial sense to purchase it.









Some of the sterling collected over the last 6 months.


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## Hooch (Jul 22, 2011)

recently at a garage sale I saw candle holders for sale for $2.00 bucks that were plated silver. I didnt buy them but almost. I wanted to look up plated silver first. two bucks wouldnt have been a huge loss but still..

A few sites all generally said not to bother with plated silver stuff if your motivation for buying is to sell the item for silver value. The process to melt n reclaim the silver on the item is to costly to make it worth while. 

Is that your take on it as well??


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## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

Hooch said:


> recently at a garage sale I saw candle holders for sale for $2.00 bucks that were plated silver. I didnt buy them but almost. I wanted to look up plated silver first. two bucks wouldnt have been a huge loss but still..
> 
> A few sites all generally said not to bother with plated silver stuff if your motivation for buying is to sell the item for silver value. The process to melt n reclaim the silver on the item is to costly to make it worth while.
> 
> Is that your take on it as well??


Definitely agree. There's too little silver to be worth the trouble to reclaim, especially with modern plating methods.


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## Hooch (Jul 22, 2011)

im glad I didnt waste my 2 bucks then... 

I did find a used huge crab cooker pot ( I think that's what it is)... it looks the same as my water bath canner pot but twice as big...like half the size of a washing machine bin or bigger...I imagine I could do laundry in it ..place over a fire if I had to n put even my biggest blankets in it easy...or cook in it but that'd be overkill container wise. Its in great shape..probably almost like new for $3.00! It had it's lid too... I scored a few books for .25 cents too.


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