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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Need Strasbourg Identification Help
A blog reader has requested help in identifying this Gorham Strasbourg spoon. It's nine inches long with a bowl that's 2 3/4 inches long. Does anyone out there know the proper name of this piece? If so, add a comment to this post or send us an email.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Why We Hate Chemical Dips!
We've mentioned a few times already that we don't recommend the use of chemical dips to clean sterling flatware. Here's an example of why we say that.
We recently came across some nice Chantilly dinner knives that were in pretty good shape. It was obvious that some of the handles had been cleaned with a chemical dip. In the picture below, the knife on the right is an example. There was one knife in the group that had not been dipped - it's shown on the left. We have not tried to clean them or polish them in any way so far.
Look how "lifeless" and plain the knife on the right looks. The dip has removed all traces of patina and French gray from the knife on the right that the knife on the left still exhibits. And, we still have to polish the knife on the right because the dip leaves a residue on the surface! We'll polish both of these and when we're done, the one on the left will be have much more character than the one on the right. We won't attempt to remove the French gray deep within the pattern of the knife on the left.
Here's an example of another problem - it looks like the person who dipped these knife handles got some of the chemical on the blades. Look at the permanent shadows now embedded in the blade of the knife in the picture below. Beautiful knives were damaged when this could have been avoided.
We recently came across some nice Chantilly dinner knives that were in pretty good shape. It was obvious that some of the handles had been cleaned with a chemical dip. In the picture below, the knife on the right is an example. There was one knife in the group that had not been dipped - it's shown on the left. We have not tried to clean them or polish them in any way so far.
Look how "lifeless" and plain the knife on the right looks. The dip has removed all traces of patina and French gray from the knife on the right that the knife on the left still exhibits. And, we still have to polish the knife on the right because the dip leaves a residue on the surface! We'll polish both of these and when we're done, the one on the left will be have much more character than the one on the right. We won't attempt to remove the French gray deep within the pattern of the knife on the left.
Here's an example of another problem - it looks like the person who dipped these knife handles got some of the chemical on the blades. Look at the permanent shadows now embedded in the blade of the knife in the picture below. Beautiful knives were damaged when this could have been avoided.
We cannot tell a lie - we do use chemical dip now and then but not over an entire piece. The most common area is between fork tines where it's hard to polish. We use a Q-tip with the chemical dip to clean between the tines. And, very rarely, we need to remove some excess tarnish from deep within the pattern somewhere. We use a toothpick with a tiny drop of the dip on the tip of the toothpick!
So, please don't immerse your nice sterling in a dip. Let it build up a nice patina over the years.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
Friday, August 21, 2009
eBay Reviews and Guides
Have you had trouble finding the information you need regarding sterling flatware? Here's another source of information:
eBay Reviews and Guides
I suggest entering "sterling flatware" in the keyword search field as a starting search. You can refine your search once you see the type of information available. You''ll probably be more interested in Guides than Reviews. Most of these were written by people who have knowledge about a specific subject. For example, you can find Guides that discuss these topics related to sterling:
eBay Reviews and Guides
I suggest entering "sterling flatware" in the keyword search field as a starting search. You can refine your search once you see the type of information available. You''ll probably be more interested in Guides than Reviews. Most of these were written by people who have knowledge about a specific subject. For example, you can find Guides that discuss these topics related to sterling:
- Cleaning
- Buying
- Selling
- Identifying
- Specific manufacturers
- Silver purity
- Setting the table
Be aware that some Guides may not be completely accurate or the author may have a particular bias so don't assume that you have the best answer. On the other hand, this is a good place to go for additional information.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.Sunday, August 16, 2009
About Teaspoons
The teaspoon is probably the most common piece of sterling flatware in use. If you're like me, you have extra teaspoons in your set. It's so common that we don't give it much thought. But, there are subtle touches to to the teaspoon family.
I assume that all sterling flatware patterns include at least one style of teaspoon, typically in the length range of 5 7/8 inches to 6 inches. This spoon is used mostly to stir hot tea or coffee but it also could be used as an ice cream spoon, a jelly serving spoon, a condiment spoon and other purposes. Notice that I said "hot tea"; here in the South when we say "tea", we most often mean "iced tea".
The picture below illustrates three types of spoons in the Prelude pattern by International. The longest spoon is the standard teaspoon (6 inches). The middle spoon is often called a "youth" spoon (5 3/8 inches). The smallest spoon is a demitasse spoon (4 1/8 inches) used to stir Turkish coffee or espresso.
The middle spoon could also be used as a "five o'clock" spoon. Many patterns include five o'clock spoons that are only about 1/4 inch shorter than standard teaspoons.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
I assume that all sterling flatware patterns include at least one style of teaspoon, typically in the length range of 5 7/8 inches to 6 inches. This spoon is used mostly to stir hot tea or coffee but it also could be used as an ice cream spoon, a jelly serving spoon, a condiment spoon and other purposes. Notice that I said "hot tea"; here in the South when we say "tea", we most often mean "iced tea".
The picture below illustrates three types of spoons in the Prelude pattern by International. The longest spoon is the standard teaspoon (6 inches). The middle spoon is often called a "youth" spoon (5 3/8 inches). The smallest spoon is a demitasse spoon (4 1/8 inches) used to stir Turkish coffee or espresso.
The middle spoon could also be used as a "five o'clock" spoon. Many patterns include five o'clock spoons that are only about 1/4 inch shorter than standard teaspoons.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
We Need Topics!
This blog has been in operation for ten months. Almost 12,000 readers have "visited" the blog. Most of the posts have been created based upon what we thought might be of interest to readers.
We would like to have direct input from you regarding topics of interest to you that we have not covered. Please send an email or post a comment and tell us what you would like to read about. If we don't know much about your topic, we'll create a post asking others for input.
Let us hear from you!
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
We would like to have direct input from you regarding topics of interest to you that we have not covered. Please send an email or post a comment and tell us what you would like to read about. If we don't know much about your topic, we'll create a post asking others for input.
Let us hear from you!
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
Monday, August 3, 2009
What's My Sterling Worth? - Revisited
The hottest general topic on this blog, based on web pages actually viewed and search terms used in Google and other search engines, is some variation on the theme, "How do I sell my sterling flatware and how much is it worth?" Last year, we decided to test the waters and secured real quotes, in writing, from three different reputable businesses that buy and sell used sterling flatware - a very large dealer, a large dealer and a small dealer.
We've seen these businesses sell on eBay and we've seen web sites and catalogs of theirs outside of eBay. We've seen their ads pop up in the Google ads in the right column and at the bottom of this blog.
We've seen these businesses sell on eBay and we've seen web sites and catalogs of theirs outside of eBay. We've seen their ads pop up in the Google ads in the right column and at the bottom of this blog.
We told them we had a set of Gorham Chantilly in excellent condition with no monograms that we wanted to sell. The 56 pieces in this fictitious set were:
- Eight place-size forks, 7.5 inches long
- Eight place-size knives, 9.25 inches long
- Eight salad forks
- Eight teaspoons
- Eight iced tea spoons
- Eight oval soup spoons
- One gravy ladle
- One sugar spoon
- Two serving tablespoons
- One pierced serving tablespoon
- One cold meat fork
- One cake/pie server
- One flat master butter knife
The three quotes we received to purchase our set ranged from $872.00 to $938.00, a difference of $66.00, or 7%. For the highest quote, the average price per piece was $16.75.
So, if you had a set like this in excellent condition, you could expect to get at least $938.00 for it. All three dealers included in the wording of their quotes a caveat that if the set was not in excellent condition according to their guidelines, the price would be less.
We should insert a note here to say that at the time these quotes were generated, commodity silver was around $20.00 per Troy ounce. Today, it's in the $14.25 ballpark. This may affect negatively a price quote we might obtain today but probably not terribly much. If we're selling to a scrap dealer, the commodity price drop would have a more significant impact.
What was the retail price of this set? Prices from multiple retailers were well over $5,000.
So, what's this set worth? It all depends on who's buying and who's selling! If you use the retail price as your benchmark, you may be disappointed in what you are actually able to sell your set for. On the other hand, if you can find an end-user buyer who will want your set for personal use, you can probably get more than what the dealers offered. Consignment shops, craigslist.org and eBay are three possible channels that come to mind to try to reach this end-user buyer.
As always, comments and emails on this subject are welcome.
FYI for any techies interested: We are able to tell what pages have been viewed and what search terms were used by accessing a web tool called "Google Analytics".
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.
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