Local Antique and Collectible Silver Flatware Buyers in Florida
- Posted on 18th August 2023
- in Antique Silver, antique silver buyers, antiques, Silver Flatware
- by Alan
Value silver flatware
Receiving the family’s antique silver was wonderful until the moment you had to polish it, endlessly. If, like many others, you have realized that owning silver takes more upkeep than you have time for, you may want to sell it. Selling silver can be a complex and difficult process to understand. Silver is typically sold in one of two ways: by the troy ounce, based on the weight of the metal, or as an antique piece, which is only possible if the items are genuinely collectible. The choice between these two methods depends entirely on your piece or pieces.
To begin, you should become familiar with the price of silver. Find an online site and follow it for some time to understand the market. The silver market site will provide you with the price of silver per ounce. Keep in mind that silver-plated items are not as valuable because they are not pure silver. Instead, they have a metal base with a silver coating. Sterling silver is worth more than silver-plated items. You can identify whether something is sterling silver by looking for stamps with either the word ‘sterling’ or the number ‘925.’ These stamp marks are very small, so you may need a magnifying glass to see them.
You could miss out on money if you scrap your silver through a metal scrapping service, as scrappers often may not know much about antique silver. Additionally, they may offer less than the true troy weight price, as they will sell it to their buyers for a profit. Therefore, it’s essential to know the true value of your silver antiques before selling them to an antique dealer.
Using identification to assist in valuation
You might think that age is the defining factor when identifying silver flatware, but that is not the truth. In fact, many older pieces from the Victorian and Edwardian eras were not handcrafted but mass-produced, making them less valuable. That’s why it is important to know the flatware’s pattern and maker since both of these factors will help identify the piece.
Occasionally, a piece that served an obsolete purpose can be worth even more than the troy price. For instance, serving pieces such as cucumber slice servers, which resemble slotted hand mirrors, are no longer made. The same holds true for spinach forks. These forks were used to eat boiled spinach and looked like small pitchforks with three widely spaced tines. Identifying your pieces is crucial.
Popular manufacturers included Tiffany & Co, Whiting, Reed & Barton, Paul Storr, and George Jensen. Not every pattern even by these famous manufacturers is valuable, so identification by a professional silver buyer such as Sarasota Antique Buyers is key. We can tell you the pattern and condition of the pieces before offering the best price for the item. Finally, keep in mind that a full set with a case is often more desirable than individual pieces.
Valuable Silver Flatware Patterns
Tiffany & Co: Renaissance and Chrysanthemum pattern
Whiting: Lilly pattern
Reed & Barton: Francis 1st and Love Disarmed pattern
Paul Storr: Coburg pattern
George Jensen: Acorn pattern
If you are looking to sell antique silver flatware or collectibles, we are interested in buying those with patterns like the ones shown in the pictures above. Please contact us.