Antique and Collectible Silver Flatware- St. Petersburg | Miami | Tampa | Orlando | Bradenton

• Posted on 18th August 2015
• in Antique Silver, antique silver buyers, antiques, Silver Flatware
• by Alan

Value silver flatware

Receiving the family’s antique silver was wonderful until 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 will want to sell it. Selling silver can be a complex process; and difficult to understand. Silver is sold in one of two ways. The first is by the troy ounce, meaning for the weight of the metal. The second is to sell as an antique piece, which is only possible if the items are actually collectible. Which way to go depends entirely upon your piece or pieces.

To begin with, you should get 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 give you the price of silver per ounce. Keep in mind that silver-plated items are not as valuable because they are not full silver. Instead, they are a metal base with a coating of silver. Sterling silver is worth more than silver plated items. You can tell if something is sterling silver through identifying stamps; either with the word “sterling” or with the number “925.” These stamp marks are very small, so you may need a magnifying glass to see them.

You can forego money on silver if you scrap it and a metal scrapping service, as the scrapper often will not know much about antique silver. In addition, they offer less than the true troy weight price, since that is what they will sell it to their buyers for. Thus, know the right worth of your silver antiques before selling it 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, meaning that they are not very valuable. That is why it is important to know the flatware’s pattern and maker since both of these will help identify the piece.

Occasionally, a piece which had a purpose now obsolete can be worth even more than the troy price. For instance, servings pieces such as cucumber slice servers, which look like 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 important.

Popular manufacturers included Tiffany & Co, Whiting, Reed & Barton, Paul Storr, and George Jensen. Not each pattern even by these famous manufacturers is valuable, so identification by a professional silver buyer such as Sarasota Antique Buyers is the key. We tell you the pattern and condition of the pieces before offering the best price on 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 collectible, we are interested in buying the ones which have the likes of antique shown in the picture above, please contact us.