Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Q&A Sites Disappearing!

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Over the past year or so, several websites that provided forums for getting questions answered have closed. Many questions about silver were...
Thursday, November 19, 2015

New silver valuation website

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A new website has become available for readers to submit questions regarding the value of items made of silver. In fact, valuation questions...
5 comments:
Sunday, December 21, 2014

Georgia Silver Closing its Doors

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Many readers know that we have operated a small business called Georgia Silver for several years. Today, December 21, 2014, is our last day ...
Thursday, June 5, 2014

European deflation may affect silver price

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I'm not an economist and I'm not an expert on trading in precious metals on the commodity market. But I do buy and sell sterling si...
Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Legitimate Work-at-home Job Opportunity

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This post has absolutely nothing to do with silver.! There are several people among my friends and family who are unemployed or underemplo...
3 comments:
Wednesday, June 5, 2013

How to use Google Ads to Buy & Sell Silver

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Most questions I receive relate to the sale of personal silver (flatware and hollowware). Questioners often want to know the market value of...
2 comments:

Need information about Stieff or Kirk silver?

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We've run across a web site that has extensive information about The Stieff Silver Co. and, to a lesser degree, The Kirk Corp. Here'...
Saturday, May 18, 2013

What does EPNS mean on silver items?

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Although my interest primarily relates to pieces made of sterling, I receive many questions about silver plate items. Perhaps the most commo...
Monday, October 1, 2012

What is this?

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A blog reader purchased this item on eBay. It's from Walker & Hall and is just under 5 inches long. The seller said it was a sardin...
7 comments:
Thursday, September 6, 2012

Holmes & Edwards Inlaid Silver

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For some reason, I've received a number of questions lately regarding Holmes & Edwards Inlaid Silver. Here's an article I wrote ...
5 comments:

Westmorland Sterling Notes

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Those of you interested in Westmorland (often misspelled Westmoreland) sterling might find these two articles interesting: Westmorland Ste...
Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Weighted Sterling Candlestick - Case Study

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When trying to determine the actual amount of silver in a weighted sterling piece, it helps to have many examples upon which you can rely re...
6 comments:
Sunday, May 6, 2012

Acid Testing Silver - A Video

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Hello, Readers! It's been a while since I posted and I apologize for that. I'll try to do better. I ran across a video recently th...
2 comments:
Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Wanted: Frank Whiting Princess Ingrid

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A blog reader has asked for help in locating anyone who wants to sell some "Princess Ingrid" by Frank Whiting. If you fit this mol...
2 comments:
Tuesday, November 29, 2011

New Life for Silver Plate Pieces

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During Thanksgiving week, I visited with relatives in New York City. On Wednesday night, we went to the Upper West Side where they inflate t...
7 comments:
Thursday, November 17, 2011

Country Living Magazine: Top 10 sterling flatware patterns

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Just a quick note of interest - we're mentioned in Country Living magazine's October 2011, issue. See the article: Top 10 Flatware...
Monday, October 3, 2011

About the Ads on Our Blog Site

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We receive questions occasionally regarding the Google ads displayed on this site. There are two primary reasons we display ads: We receive...
Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Buying and selling silver flatware: An antique show example

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I visited the Scott Antique Market this past weekend. This is a huge show held monthly in Atlanta and I sometimes go because I know I'll...
2 comments:
Sunday, August 7, 2011

Selling Your Silver: A Guide to Finding a Buyer and Getting a Good Price

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I receive tons of questions from people wanting to know how to sell their silver, especially since the world commodity silver price has skyr...
2 comments:
Friday, August 5, 2011

Help Requested in Locating Engraved Gorham Buttercup Pieces

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A blog reader has asked for assistance in locating some specific pieces. Her great-grandmother gave away some pieces of Gorham Buttercup eng...
4 comments:
Saturday, July 23, 2011

Why can't I sell my sterling silver for higher than scrap value?

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The wild commodity silver market has triggered many questions to me from blog readers who are thinking about selling their sterling flatware...
1 comment:
Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Who Will Buy Sterling Silver for Scrap Value - Update Regarding Refineries

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I've posted a few articles regarding selling sterling for scrap but most were written when the commodity price of silver was much lower ...
Monday, June 20, 2011

Hollowware Match for Towle Old Master Flatware

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A reader who owns Towle Old Master sterling flatware would like some help. He wants to acquire hollowware that blends well with his flatware...
1 comment:
Thursday, June 2, 2011

I Need Help with Gorham Marks

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I've stated in several posts that Gorham changed its marking method for flatware in 1950 from the classic "lion/anchor/G Sterling...
14 comments:
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

This has nothing to do with silver!

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This post has nothing to do with silver but maybe the topics might interest a few readers. I'm returning a favor to sources who have lin...
Monday, May 23, 2011

Case Study & Warning: Selling scrap silver to a refiner

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I wrote this article on May 22, 2011. So far, it is Number One on the Hit Parade of articles ! It received 600% more "hits" on the...
Friday, April 8, 2011

Silver price above $40

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The world spot price for commodity silver has now exceeded $40 per Troy ounce, the highest it has been since 1980. The price rose to $50 in ...
1 comment:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Another Blog for Information on Silver

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A regular reader of this blog has started her own blog that includes hints regarding silver, items to review and items for sale: Cherie'...
2 comments:
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Silver Content in Silver Plate Flatware

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I recently had some silver plate flatware melted down just to see what the silver content was. Here's a link to the article that summari...
22 comments:
Monday, February 21, 2011

Silver Price Continues to Soar

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I've been wrong many times in my life and this is one of those times. I just did not think the spot price of commodity silver would cont...
2 comments:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011

British Silver Assay Offices

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If you have an interest in British silver pieces or the marks thereon, you may find the websites of four active British assay offices useful...
2 comments:
Friday, November 12, 2010

A Process to Sell Silver for Scrap at a Decent Price

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We are not big fans of melting beautiful sterling pieces just to recover the silver. But we do realize that there are valid reasons to proce...
3 comments:
Sunday, October 10, 2010

I Need a Favor from Blog Readers

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This post has nothing whatever to do with silver. However, I would like to ask a favor from blog readers. I am helping a friend launch a n...
Monday, September 27, 2010

Silver Price Rises Above 2008 High

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The price of commodity silver has now risen above the 2008 high. This is the highest it has been since the Hunt Brothers of Texas tried to c...
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Gorham "Pattern M" - Fairfax??

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I received a question on my AllExperts  site today that stumped me. The question regarded a set of Gorham sterling flatware identified on th...
2 comments:
Thursday, August 5, 2010

Why has posting to Silver Chatter slowed down?

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I've received a few emails from readers wanting to know what's happened to me? I appreciate the interest and should explain why post...
3 comments:
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Identification Help

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A blog reader has asked for help in identifying and estimating a value for the unusual set in the pictures. The only mark on the pieces is t...
1 comment:
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Question about Reed and Barton Love Disarmed

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A blog reader has asked a question regarding Reed and Barton's Love Disarmed sterling flatware, "How can one distinguish between ...
1 comment:
Sunday, June 20, 2010

Interview with Colonial Williamsburg Metals Curator

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I was contacted by Collectors Weekly regarding an interview with Janine Skerry , the metals curator at Colonial Williamsburg . Skerry take...
Friday, June 18, 2010

Identification Help

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A blog reader sent us the pictures below with a request for help in identifying the marks. Please add a comment or send us an email if you h...
1 comment:
Monday, May 31, 2010

Oneida Trivia

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If you are in interested in Oneida history (as well as some of the Rogers companies), here are links to a couple of recent articles about On...
Saturday, May 29, 2010

Why Do We Allow Google Ads on This Blog?

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Two reasons- Most of the ads relate to the content of this blog. Google does a pretty good job of analyzing the content of the posts and dis...

Silver Patterns of Famous People

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A while back, we asked readers to submit topics of interest for this blog. A reader has responded with a request to discuss silver patterns ...
6 comments:
Friday, May 28, 2010

Information Request About This Pot

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A reader of this blog has asked us if we have any information about the Tiffany coffee pot seen in these pictures. He basically has the info...
1 comment:
Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Reminder: Don't Wrap Silver with Rubber Bands!

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We've discussed in the past the fact that rubber can damage silver. Unfortunately, the word has not gotten out to everyone. Yesterday, w...
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Souvenir Spoons

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Now this is a subject about which we know very little. But that's not stopped us in the past! Because we receive so many questions on th...
Sunday, April 25, 2010

Appraising the Value of Your Sterling Silver

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Many of the questions we receive relate to the value of a set of silver someone has, either sterling or silver plate. We've recently wri...
Thursday, March 25, 2010

WARNING: Copies of sterling flatware patterns being offered for sale

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Copies of popular sterling flatware patterns such as Chantilly and Old Maryland Engraved are being offered on eBay. I ran across some listi...
1 comment:
Monday, March 22, 2010

Gorham Chantilly Patent

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If you are a Gorham Chantilly history fan, you might be interested in seeing the original patent for this pattern. The U. S. Patent and Tra...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Silver Plate Marks

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We don't deal much with silver plate pieces but we receive an awful lot of questions about them. One thing that's confusing to many ...
13 comments:
Friday, February 12, 2010

Attention: Scrap Sterling Buyers

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If you buy scrap sterling by weight, read on: We receive many, many inquiries from readers interested in selling their sterling flatware and...
2 comments:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Selling Sterling Silver? Don't Be Lazy!

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Shop around for the best price ! Here's a concrete example of why this is true. Last week, we purchased a set of sterling flatware from ...
Sunday, January 31, 2010

How Much Can I Get for My Silver Plate Flatware?

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I receive so many questions similar to the title of this post that I thought it was worth writing an article on this specific subject. Here...
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Identification Help

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A blog reader has submitted these pictures of a piece to seek help with identifying it. It has the number, "800", on the bottom. Y...
1 comment:
Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Want to Ask a Question?

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We receive many questions and we are happy to try to answer all of them. If we can't answer one, we try to point the questioner to other...
Friday, January 1, 2010

What is nickel silver?

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"Nickel silver" is an interesting name because the metal alloy referenced by the name contains no silver! It's a mixture of co...
3 comments:
Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Finding Actual Sales on eBay

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We receive comments such as this frequently, "My sterling flatware set must be worth $ XYZ .00 because I've seen it listed on eBay ...
2 comments:
Saturday, December 12, 2009

Identification Help - Steel Flatware

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We received a question regarding the pieces you see in the picture. They appear to be made of steel and have enameled handles. The phrase, ...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Questions About Rogers Silver Flatware?

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We receive so many questions about Rogers flatware that we wrote an article about the subject for Examiner.com . If you have questions on th...
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Hints on Multi-Purpose Serving Pieces

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We ran across an old brochure from Ross-Simons the other day that had some handy tips regarding using certain serving pieces for multiple pu...
Monday, November 23, 2009

U.S. Government Restriction on Pattern Pieces?

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A blog reader sent in the following question: I remember reading somewhere that the US government limited the number of pieces that could be...
4 comments:
Thursday, November 19, 2009

Top 10 Most Popular Patterns of Sterling Flatware

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This ought to get us in trouble! Here's our opinion concerning the ten most popular sterling flatware patterns in terms of units still b...
Monday, November 16, 2009

Information Request - Silver Flatware from Greece

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We have been asked if we know anything about the flatware in the pictures. It's from Greece. The original owner lived in Greece many yea...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Inside a Hollow Handle Knife

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After watching the YouTube video in the previous post, we decided to investigate the inside of a knife handle on our own. In the first pictu...
12 comments:
Monday, November 9, 2009

Example of Hollow Handle & Weighted Sterling

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We ran across this YouTube video recently. It illustrates the construction of hollow handle sterling flatware and weighted candlesticks. It...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Question About Ice Cream Forks

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Ice cream fork and spoon from a 1914 Gorham document describing the Chantilly pattern A blog reader has sent us some questions about ice cre...
2 comments:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Extreme Case of Tarnish

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We've discussed in several articles the effects of sulphur on sterling flatware resulting in tarnish. Here's an interesting case reg...
Friday, October 23, 2009

Uniformity Throughout the Years - NOT!

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We've been in the sterling flatware business long enough to notice an annoying problem. Pieces made by the same manufacturer may not be ...
5 comments: