New silver valuation website

A new website has become available for readers to submit questions regarding the value of items made of silver. In fact, valuation questions can be submitted for many other categories of items. Here's the link to the silver page:

     Love to Know - What's it worth?

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

The wild commodity silver market has triggered many questions to me from blog readers who are thinking about selling their sterling flatware and hollowware pieces. Many have questioned why they could not get a better price. We've been watching sales on eBay lately and it seems that many sellers don't even get the scrap value for their sterling. Here's an article we wrote recently:

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

As a reminder, we don't think folks should ever sell their sterling unless they really need the money. In general, the price received will always be disappointing, especially if the seller expected to get somewhere close to retail or close to the prices charged by companies like Replacements, Ltd. We think the value of sterling as a personal family heirloom is much greater that its value on the used market and it should be handed down through generations.

If you must sell, be patient. Get offers from several buyers and try to find the buyer who wants sterling for personal use. Such a buyer often is willing to pay more.

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.

Case Study & Warning: Selling scrap silver to a refiner

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 first day than the next most popular article I ever wrote.

     Case Study & Warning: Selling scrap silver to a refiner

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.

Appraising the Value of Your Sterling Silver

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 written a series of three articles on the appraising process. Two of the them focus on professional appraisers while the third discusses a cheaper approach. Here's a link to the third article if you're interested:

- Cheap approach to appraising your sterling flatware

In the article you will find links to the earlier two articles. The focus is on sterling but the discussion could apply to silver plate as well.

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.