How to sell silver plated flatware
What to do with Plated Silver
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How to sell silver plated flatware?
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a question i get
very often is
i've found that the silver i received
from my mother-in-law or mother was
silver plate
and
i was disappointed i was hoping it was
sterling they thought it was sterling
and now what do i do with it it
tarnishes it sits on the shelf i don't
want it so anyway
is there any market for this
most of it
was wedding gifts from the 1930s and 40s
it was uh you know something that looked
nice
and was an easy gift to give and it
really
actually didn't cost a lot so what what
do you do with it
there's two kinds there's hollow wear
like this water pitcher and there's
flatware
and
let's talk about the flatwork first
there's 5 000 different patterns of
silver plated
flatware
of those about 35 are what you call
collectible
where there's a
strong market for them
very tiny percentage
then there's probably another couple of
hundred
let's say 300
where
there are
a lot of people who have the pattern and
so it is saleable
that leaves
about 4 700 patterns where
there isn't much demand
what i would suggest is that you
contact
a sterling or silver plated matching
service and see if they're interested
for instance right now we are paying the
princely sum of 50 cents each piece
for silver plate
flatware if it's in good condition
and there's always the chance that it's
going to be one of the
few valuable ones where it actually is
worth some money
okay then let's talk about how now
hollow wear
is as i say is like a pitcher it's like
a tray
it can be a tea set
and um
there are again two types one is
patterns or is made
in connection with a flatware pattern
that might have some value like this
water picture is the grand baroque
pattern
so there's a sterling pattern
and then they made silver plated hollow
to go with it
so
you know a pitcher like this we bought
at the shop for 25
that's not bad for silver plate
most of it's not a pattern
and then what do you do with it
really no company
wants to buy it there really is no
market for it
one interesting story i had was a woman
came in
and i said do you have sterling or
silver plated hollow wear and she said
it's sterile she brought it in
and
it was all silver plated i said i
thought she said it was sterling she
said
it tarnishes like crazy so it had to be
sterling well silver plate does tonight
anyway
she said she didn't want to take it back
she wanted to leave it here i donated to
a church auction
they came back with it they couldn't get
a dollar a piece
and so
i had it back
but what i suggest
is that you go to a store
like a macy's
see what they sell the things for
and then
donate it to a charity
and
experience this show that if you take
about 25
of what a store is selling an item for
it would be
an allowable tax deduction
thank you
