- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 1,581
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- Location
- New York, NY
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- Detector(s) used
- Whites (CM 5000, XLT, VX3) and Minelab (Svgn GT & Excal III & Equinox)
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
- #1
Thread Owner
A King's Ransom in Sterling + a Great Civ War Button + other finds
As it happens, I found myself at an estate sale yesterday on my way to a work appointment. Well worth the added stop even though I was about 5 minutes late for the appointment. I came upon this tea service and thought it looked too good to be plate, but it was on the dining room table not being watched so I presumed it couldn't be sterling. I flipped over the teapot and was pleasantly surprised to see the sterling mark. I asked the seller what the price was and he told me $250.00 because it was an antique. I guess I looked shocked because he advised me that he would take $200 for the set. I could feel there was more than $200 worth of sterling in the pot alone, so I agreed immediately to buy the set. The really incredible discovery though is that the tray is also solid sterling silver. Until this one, I never saw one of these in the "wild". All in the set weighs 5.9 lbs! A king's ransom these days. It has already been sold for $3,000 - about 20% over scrap I reckon.
As for the button - it was purchased in a lot of gold filled scrap on eBay. Its a Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Fourth Regiment button -- quite rare (though it was converted to a pin in antiquity). It is currently bringing $61.00 on ebay, though I hope it will bring more by the time it closes on Sunday.
A few other recent finds of note -- Sabatier Jeune Garanti carbon steel knife (sold quite nicely on ebay), a 19 gram 14K Heavy link bracelet (off to the refiner), a circa 1750 12K gold and point cut diamond earring (only one - but it weighs 7 grams! - I'm not sure how to calculate the diamond weight without removing the stones) (sold privately) - As you can see - I don't keep anything.
I hope some of this recent luck rubs on all of you in your treasure hunts! Thanks for reading.
As it happens, I found myself at an estate sale yesterday on my way to a work appointment. Well worth the added stop even though I was about 5 minutes late for the appointment. I came upon this tea service and thought it looked too good to be plate, but it was on the dining room table not being watched so I presumed it couldn't be sterling. I flipped over the teapot and was pleasantly surprised to see the sterling mark. I asked the seller what the price was and he told me $250.00 because it was an antique. I guess I looked shocked because he advised me that he would take $200 for the set. I could feel there was more than $200 worth of sterling in the pot alone, so I agreed immediately to buy the set. The really incredible discovery though is that the tray is also solid sterling silver. Until this one, I never saw one of these in the "wild". All in the set weighs 5.9 lbs! A king's ransom these days. It has already been sold for $3,000 - about 20% over scrap I reckon.
As for the button - it was purchased in a lot of gold filled scrap on eBay. Its a Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Fourth Regiment button -- quite rare (though it was converted to a pin in antiquity). It is currently bringing $61.00 on ebay, though I hope it will bring more by the time it closes on Sunday.
A few other recent finds of note -- Sabatier Jeune Garanti carbon steel knife (sold quite nicely on ebay), a 19 gram 14K Heavy link bracelet (off to the refiner), a circa 1750 12K gold and point cut diamond earring (only one - but it weighs 7 grams! - I'm not sure how to calculate the diamond weight without removing the stones) (sold privately) - As you can see - I don't keep anything.
I hope some of this recent luck rubs on all of you in your treasure hunts! Thanks for reading.
