Many people know that they can resell old gold jewelry, but did you know that your old flatware, candlesticks, and holloware can be worth a lot?
Silver comes in different purities; common purities include sterling silver or .925 (meaning it’s 92.5% pure) or .835 silver, .830 silver, .800 silver and many more. Although there are a variety of hallmarks, one of the most common hallmarks to indicate British sterling silver is the lion passant, where the lion has the right forepaw raised and all others on the ground.
An absence of any markings is usually a sign that the item is not sterling silver. In other cases there are stamps that indicate when an item is not silver. The words quadruple, triple, double, EPNS, (which stands for electroplated nickel silver) indicate an item is plated.
A very common question would be is there any value in silver plate? There is no “melt” value for any items that are silver plate and usually something that many dealers have to pass on buying. Usually items of value are marked or stamped on the back or underneath with the words STERLING, STER, a hallmark of some type, or the actual purity as discussed earlier.
Some silver items are “weighted” pieces. Weighted sterling or weighted silver refers to items such as candlesticks, candy dishes, salt and pepper shakers, footed bowls and some flatware especially knives that instead of being made of solid silver, are in fact a cored composite of other materials. Plaster, wax and lead are common items used in the base to make an item more stable, especially candlesticks.
There is no need to clean or polish anything you think might be silver.
We are adhering to all social distancing rules and guidelines and are only allowing one customer in our locations at a time. We are sanitizing between customers and have a large plexiglass partition as added protection. We are accepting walk-ins at this time – if you need any additional information, please contact us at (845) 228-4653 . We look forward to hearing from you!
