Joined Nov 2007
L5: Journeyman
Forum Thread
What is the best way to sell old siver and gold dinnerware and things like that?
August 29, 2025 at
04:36 PM
Thread Details
All of my ancestors have saved silver and gold for almost 175 years. Its entirely made up of very early 20th century, 19th and 18th century pieces. Whats the best way of liquidating it all. I am the last heir and I have no one to leave all this stuff too that wants it or needs it.
I was thinking of taking it to a smelter and see how much they would charge to smelt it down into bars. Just to give you an idea, I have one old potato bag with 65lbs of random sterling silver forks and spoons.
I have been leery of taking anything to a pawn shop, call it anxiety if you want, but I really feel uncomfortable walking into a pawn shop with a 14K gold tea set or even 1 dinner plate for that matter.
I begged my mom to get rid of all this stuff before she passed, but she insisted I might need it one day. Her saying was "gods not making anymore gold or land".
I was thinking of taking it to a smelter and see how much they would charge to smelt it down into bars. Just to give you an idea, I have one old potato bag with 65lbs of random sterling silver forks and spoons.
I have been leery of taking anything to a pawn shop, call it anxiety if you want, but I really feel uncomfortable walking into a pawn shop with a 14K gold tea set or even 1 dinner plate for that matter.
I begged my mom to get rid of all this stuff before she passed, but she insisted I might need it one day. Her saying was "gods not making anymore gold or land".
About the OP
4 Comments
Your comment cannot be blank.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
As was noted, if you have silver or gold ware you likely should take it to an appraisal firm that can do a proper search and appraisal for you. That will cost you though but it if you ever saw the antiques roadshow, there is no knowing how rare or valuable a piece may be yourself, esp. if it is very old. You could then sell the items at auction either individually or as a set.
My 2 cents.
- You already weighed it at 65 pounds.
- Silver is priced in troy ounces, so you have to convert. There are 454 grams in a pound, and 31.1 grams in a troy ounce. So 65 pounds * 454 grams/pound / 31 grams/troy ounce gives 65x454/31=952 ounces.
- Sterling silver is not pure, but 92.5% pure. So 952 * 0.925 = 881 troy ounces pure.
- To find the current (spot) price of silver, check out kitco.com, which shows silver at $48.03, which is down a bit from recent highs nearer $55. So, your melt value is 881 * $48.03 = $42,314.
- This is further complicated as some settings are not solid, and actually use plaster fill for heft and rigidity, and some knife blades are not silver (which is softer than steel). So, this is a YMMV estimate.
Not saying that you should sell it for just scrap (perhaps, but it depends on what you have), but now you have an idea of what it is worth at least. If you do go the scrap route, you will only get about 80-90% of melt, or between $33,850 and $38,000.If you wnat to scrap it, try pawn shops, coin stores, or if you are near a metropolitan center, see if they have any refineries. Not all pawn shops are sketchy, try a few. Just ask what they are paying.
If you think it is worth more than melt (some is, but not that much), try an antique store. Or search for your pattern on eBay - you can even sell it there if you are so inclined.
But whatever you do, do the work to find out what the melt value is.