Precious metals investors usually keep their investments in coins, bars, or rounds. However, what should you do if you’ve got a piece of silver that doesn’t fit into these categories?
Let’s say that you’ve inherited some silverware or jewelry from a passed relative. Well, what you have on your hands is a piece of “scrap” silver. Scrap silver is defined as any silver items that derive most of their value from their melt value – the metal content itself – rather than their value as a collectible or for their artistic designs.
Now, the scrap silver label does apply to some quite beautiful pieces, so calling it “scrap” silver doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s ugly. It’s just not so incredibly made that its aesthetic value overwhelms its melt value.
The good news is that the condition of scrap silver is largely immaterial to its value. What matters is its purity and its weight. Most of the time, it’s no big deal if the item is worn or even broken.
So, let’s talk about what to do with your scrap silver if you’d like to sell it. Here are the different categories of scrap silver that silver dealers will try to buy.
1. Sterling Silver Items (92.5% silver)
The first category of scrap silver that you’ll be able to sell fairly easily are items that are sterling silver. The “sterling” name refers specifically to objects made with an alloy of 92.5% fine silver and 7.5% of another metal – usually copper.
Sterling silver is an extremely common medium for many different types of flatware and serving pieces. Many middle-class and upper-class families in times past kept a service of forks, knives, and spoons made of sterling silver. In addition, there were often sterling silver pitchers, tea sets, and trays that filled out these groups of sterling silver.
Sterling silver was also used extensively for making candlesticks and decorative items. Its popularity stems from the fact that it shines like silver – which it mostly is – but has the hardiness of its other metals to help it keep its shape.
If you’re curious about whether you have a sterling silver piece, the biggest clue is likely stamped onto it. Silvermakers are not bashful about putting the words “STERLING,” “925,” and/or “.925” onto their sterling pieces.
You may also get a pretty good idea that a piece is sterling silver if you know the identity of its maker. Most famously, Tiffany & Co. is nearly synonymous with the alloy, and other major silvermakers like Gorham (which created the Chantilly pattern) and Reed & Barton are/were well-known for their use of sterling silver.
2. Silver Jewelry
There is also a large portion of jewelry that fits into the scrap silver category. Necklaces, chains, pendants, bracelets, and rings may all be considered to be scrap silver, even though they can have tremendous sentimental value.
Many of them are made with sterling silver, too. So, you can look for the same markers described above. You may also see a “Mex925” stamp, which merely indicates that the sterling piece was created in Mexico, rather than the United States (or somewhere else).
Of course, if you take your silver jewelry to be assessed for its melt value, the stones inscribed into them are usually going to be removed before the assessment. After all, melt value is a function of purity and weight.
3. Silver Coins Sold as Scrap (Non-collectible)
Not all silver coins are investor grade items. Worn, damaged, or bent currency pieces may be in such rough shape that their only remaining value is their melt value.
We’re talking about coins that undeniably circulated during their primary eras of service. War nickels are historically significant, but many of them have quite a bit of mileage on them. Any pre-1965 dimes, quarters, and half dollars are made with 90% silver. Nickels only contain silver if they’re 1942–1945 wartime issues (“War Nickels”), which have 35% silver.
If you happen to acquire bullion coins that are in terrible shape, they may fall into the scrap category, too. Interestingly, bullion coins that have been polished (especially by an amateur) also fall into scrap, as the act of cleaning or polishing precious metal investments in order to improve them usually has the opposite effect.
There is a separation in this category in terms of the value you can get for scrap silver bullion coins, however. If your bullion piece is still a collectible item, it may retain some of its status as a bullion coin, rather than a scrap piece, and it may generate higher offers than unremarkable pieces.
4. Industrial or Miscellaneous Silver
Finally, scrap silver is sometimes exactly what it sounds like – scrap. Jewelers naturally create quite a bit of leavings as they shape their various pieces each day, and the scraps are made of silver, gold, and other precious metals.
Additionally – you shouldn’t throw out your silver pieces if they happen to get broken or rendered useless for their intended purpose. They are still worth their melt values.
If you’re wondering whether your item is made of genuine silver, there are a few things that you can do to discern it. We’ve already touched on some of them, but here’s how to know.
1. Look for Hallmarks or Stamps
Look for some of the stamps or hallmarks we’ve mentioned above. The word “STERLING,” or a three-digit number, can often suggest that you’ve got the genuine article.
Another word that can be a good sign is the phrase “coin silver.” In this case, it suggests an item made with 90% silver and 10% copper – the same alloy used for US coinage prior to 1965.
On the flip side, you need to watch out for pieces that are merely plated with silver, rather than made mostly with silver. Common marks that indicate a plated piece include “EPNS,” “EP,” “Silverplate,” “Community,” “Sheffield,” and – somewhat ironically – “German Silver.”
Needless to say, plated pieces are much less valuable than genuine pieces.
2. Test the Item at Home
There are some home tests that you can perform yourself if you want to check what you have. For more detailed instructions, check out our article on how to spot fake silver.
At the end of the day, however, there’s no substitute for having a professional confirm that you have genuine silver. A reputable jeweler or coin shop dealer can take a sample or shaving of your piece and determine exactly what you have on your hands.
Bear in mind, you’re going to have to get the piece assessed professionally, anyway. So, the home tests are more for a general idea – especially if you’re not planning on selling right away.
Weighing and Valuing Your Scrap Silver
We’ve already mentioned that the two factors affecting the value of your scrap silver are its weight and its purity. Purity is pretty straightforward – it’s the mass of pure silver as a percentage of the object’s entire mass.
Typically, purity is expressed using a three-digit number. To read it, the best thing to do is imagine a decimal point in front of the first number and go from there. So, a purity of 925 means that it is .925, or 92.5%, pure silver.
The other element, weight, has a bit of a trick to it. The ounces in question with precious metals are troy ounces, not standard or avoirdupois ounces. Troy ounces are roughly 11% heavier than standard ounces, so don’t be surprised when your scale and the pro’s scale come up with different amounts.
There is a third factor that we haven’t talked about yet – the spot price. The spot price of silver is the going market price for a troy ounce of silver.
However, there are a couple of things to understand about the spot price. For one thing, it is never a stable amount, especially in the days of 24-hour trading. So, any value you get is a snapshot at a particular point in time, not something set in stone.
The other thing is that you are never going to receive the published spot price when you sell your silver. For one thing, every spot price has two sides to it – the bid and the ask – and the higher-value ask is almost always what the news reports.
The other thing is that the dealer you choose is going to pay a little less than even the lower bid price. This extra bit of removed profit is also known as the premium, and every dealer on the planet charges one.
In this day and age, you have a host of options available to you when it comes to selling your scrap silver. Each option has positives and negatives associated with it, so you’ll have to decide which qualities are most important. Here are the places you can sell silver:
• Online precious metals dealers – An outlet like JM Bullion is the first place that comes to mind when it comes to selling your scrap silver. Because of competitive pressures, online dealers can usually offer you the best prices, but the transaction might take longer than you’d like.
• Local coin shops – There are often local shops near your home or work that buy and sell precious metals, and there is nothing wrong with using one for your scrap silver. It is possible to walk into one of these locations with your silver and walk out with money in hand in less than 15 minutes. However, because there are fixed costs associated with a physical store, you are likely not going to get the tiptop price for your silver that you’d get online.
• Jewelers and jewelry stores – You can also sell your scrap silver to many jewelers and jewelry stores, both in-person and online. Additionally, jewelry stores are more plentiful than coin shops, so you’ll probably have more options and be able to shop around a bit. However, understand that your payouts could vary wildly due to the fact that jewelers have varying degrees of expertise when it comes to precious metals appraising and, for that matter, keeping their expenses the same.
• Pawn shops – Finally, there is no faster way to sell your scrap silver than through your local pawn shop. They are the most numerous of the groups of outlets mentioned in this section, and you likely have one just around the corner from your house. However, that convenience masks the elephant in the room – you will not get a good payout from a pawn shop. If maximizing the value you get is even slightly important to you, you should avoid this option.
One last thing to mention is that you should choose a reputable dealer, regardless of which group you choose for your sale. Reputable dealers, among other things, tend to pay more because they are more transparent with their pricing and how their premiums relate to the spot prices.
Once you’ve settled on where you are going to sell your scrap silver, don’t make the mistake of negotiating with your silver items as-is. Here are some tips for ensuring that you get the best price:
• Separate your sterling items from your plated items. If necessary, educate yourself on the differences between the two. The last thing you want to do is have genuine silver get lumped in with the plated stuff, or – alternatively – unwittingly defraud the buyer and have little to no recourse when the disputes arise later.
• By default, don’t remove the stones beforehand. Although you’ll need to have them removed, you don’t want to damage them or the underlying silver trying to accomplish the task. The dealers have the tools and expertise to do it correctly, even if you don’t end up taking the deal.
• As we said earlier, DON’T TRY TO CLEAN OR POLISH ANYTHING. You will almost always do more harm than good.
• Check the spot price. You need to have a rough estimate about how much you expect to get for your silver as much as possible. This step may not be easy, but at the very least, know where the spot price stands before you get started.
• Shop around. Don’t just accept the first offer you receive – even if you end up going with it later on. With so much information at our fingertips, you should be able to find a range of offers so you can pick the best one. At the same time, make sure to temper the prices offered against the repute of the dealer. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Bring a valid ID. Weirdly enough, this one does need to be said. Most states require valid ID to sell precious metals.
Scrap silver is silver that doesn’t fit neatly into the three common formats for precious metals investing – coins, rounds, or bars. So, any silver jewelry, flatware, or serving pieces that you’ve acquired, either through purchase or inheritance, are considered “scrap,” regardless of their actual silver quality and condition.
As such, their primary value is their melt value, or the actual price associated with the metal content in your item(s) itself. So, you need to know what the going rate for silver is, along with how many troy ounces (not grams or ounces) of silver you have.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, that’s no problem. Give us a call at 1-800-276-6508. We’re available Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 6 PM Central. We’re happy to discuss things and, if you like, make the first offer on your pieces.