Another Large Hoard of Silver - Chinese, Polish, German, & US Silver

[UnderMiner]

So I scored another large hoard of silver at the dump today. Unfortunately someone else managed to grab a large part of the hoard before I salvaged the items pictured below - the items I saw this other person get away with included about 7 pieces, mostly common small sterling sugar/creamer bowls, but the joke is on them as I managed to score the rarer pieces which were mostly not stamped Sterling and so must have been disregarded as junk.

Included in my hoard are: 2 weighted Sterling candle holders, 1 Sterling Gorham bowl, 1 broken Sterling footed candy dish (missing its base and silver markings), 1 3rd standard 80% silver Polish salt bowl, 1 "800" 80% silver German basket centerpiece with crystal insert, and the best find of the day: 1 Zeewoo Shanghai import silver wine cup (Sterling stamp written in Chinese).


This is one of my favorites finds for the year, it is a very rare sterling silver cup made by the Zeewo silver company in Shanghai. From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Chinese Republic (1870-1930), prior to the Communist revolution, Zeewo was one of the primary exporters of quality Chinese silver to Great Britain and the USA before going out of business in 1930. Today it is one of the most prized silver and is extremely desirable by collectors.


This is the silver stamp on the bottom of the silver/crystal basket. It is a German mark and indicated 80% silver.


Entire hoard is over 600 grams of silver not including the weighted silver. Had I managed to score the entire hoard it would have been a Kilo at least.
I'll upload the Polish silver stamps from the salt bowl for your reference later as well. This is all I have now as I had to go to work shortly after taking these pics.

Edit: Here are the Polish silver marks from the salt bowl. To the right of the womans profile is a small '3' this is the 3rd standard of 80% the 'AP' is the maker's mark.

 

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[xr7ator]

Killer stuff!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Outstanding!

 

[jewelerguy]

wow that's crazy

 

[Shakakka]

Wait, I need a clearer picture of this...

So you're at a dump, surrounded by mountains of trash? Just moving stuff around with a stick and grabbing what you see?

How is it you keep finding silverware sets? What are the odds of someone else being there in the exact spot as you, picking through the same trash, looking for the exact same thing (silver?)

It's not that I don't believe you - I do! I just need to understand this, and how it happens. I'm baffled.

 

[Argentium]

As large as dumps typically are , how do you know where to start ? Also how many pounds of rotting food and putrid diapers do you have to move before you start seeing the heavy metal ? Great Score !!

 

[Indian Steve]

I'm guessing that he works at the dump. I worked at a landfill for over 12 years and people would bring in some great stuff. Good loads would have 4 or more workers picking through the load.

 

[Hawks88]

Some beautiful saves. Congrats

 

[A2coins]

I need to apply for a job!!!!!!!Great finds

 

[UnderMiner]

Wait, I need a clearer picture of this...

So you're at a dump, surrounded by mountains of trash? Just moving stuff around with a stick and grabbing what you see?

How is it you keep finding silverware sets? What are the odds of someone else being there in the exact spot as you, picking through the same trash, looking for the exact same thing (silver?)

It's not that I don't believe you - I do! I just need to understand this, and how it happens. I'm baffled.

To answer your question, yes -- there are piles of trash and yes I have a stick-- but it has a claw at the end of it for grabbing things so I don't need to use my hands, but I do anyway most of the time-- with gloves of course. The workers that staff these places sometimes will find treasure and they have in the past told me many secrets about when and where it can be found. It's a complicated art/science where persistence is the key, also it's part of my job to inspect these places-- but I also go off hours too for fun. I go metal detecting and all types of treasure hunting too though, but the dumps and landfills hold a special place in my treasure hunting heart.

The funny thing is-- compared to the people who work at these places full time-- I am a joke when it comes to finding treasure. I've heard reliable stories of a guy who recently (in the past 5 years) found $35,000 in cash in an old fridge crisper drawer, another found a safe full of money enough to retire on, I've heard stories of junked cash registers bursting open and money flying around, silver coins by the sack full, gold chains, rings, a kings fortune found at many places-- mind you these are once in a career finds for most of the guys I've spoken with and have happened to "friends of friends". So far I have found nothing to compare... yet, the stories may be true after all

 

[UnderMiner]

As large as dumps typically are , how do you know where to start ? Also how many pounds of rotting food and putrid diapers do you have to move before you start seeing the heavy metal ? Great Score !!

I one time pulled gold and silver jewelry from a bag that contained a rotting chicken carcass. The putrid slime got on my hand and I was never so close to puking in my life than at that moment simply from smelling something. I scored some nice treasure out of it though - and nothing beats pulling treasure out from under a dead chicken.

 

[UnderMiner]

I'm guessing that he works at the dump. I worked at a landfill for over 12 years and people would bring in some great stuff. Good loads would have 4 or more workers picking through the load.

Close, I hop around to many landfills and dumps inspecting environmental conditions (I officially look for radiation and heavy metal contamination -- just my luck silver and gold are 'heavy metals' too!). I also have access off hours and can go whenever and wherever I want, although this has only been in the last few years, I've been hunting these same places as a kid and was still finding stuff back then too, just not as much as I do now.

 

[Argentium]

UnderMiner , I have witnessed numerous of these massive silver scores of yours over the years , you have found a solid fortune in sterling and other silver alloys - the one additional question I have for you is ...what is your theory as to how/why people carry pounds of silver (gold?) to the dump - a place we associate with that which is worthless - what kind of thinking goes into this behavior ? Help me out here !

 

[UnderMiner]

UnderMiner , I have witnessed numerous of these massive silver scores of yours over the years , you have found a solid fortune in sterling and other silver alloys - the one additional question I have for you is ...what is your theory as to how/why people carry pounds of silver (gold?) to the dump - a place we associate with that which is worthless - what kind of thinking goes into this behavior ? Help me out here !

A question I have been asking myself for quite some time. The simple truth is ignorance. Nothing else can be said. I mean how many people can honestly recognize early 19th century American coin silver? Not many, it's not marked as 'silver' in most cases just with a random maker's mark. How many people can recognize Russian 84 Zolotniki silver? It's marked "84" but who knows what that means? To ad insult to injury if you acid test silver that is less than 90%, which most valuable antique and foreign silver is, it will return at minimum a very confusing result that will often lead the person to assume it is fake. I have found silver items with notches taken out of them where people have obviously silver tested them, acid stains still fresh, and clearly concluded they were fake as they were placed in the trash. Very sad. I guarantee you many millions of dollars in the most valuable antique silver is carelessly disposed of every year. That is why I spend most of my down time researching markings and history when I am not on the hunt. I don't even think of this stuff in terms of value, I see it as saving history and that is what I do.

As for why these ignorant people have this treasure to throw away to begin with is a simple answer - relatives from the old days treasured their family silver and knew what they had and didn't brag about it, their kids who inherit it now however don't give a damn about the family's silver and so toss it. If they don't toss it they sell it to a silver dealer, I know silver dealers, they are not as smart as they think they are - they will often not recognize the rarer silver and then THEY will toss it, as hard to believe as that is I have seen it happen.

 

[Nitric]

UnderMiner , I have witnessed numerous of these massive silver scores of yours over the years , you have found a solid fortune in sterling and other silver alloys - the one additional question I have for you is ...what is your theory as to how/why people carry pounds of silver (gold?) to the dump - a place we associate with that which is worthless - what kind of thinking goes into this behavior ? Help me out here !

I can't answer for him...But I can tell you. Some people just don't care! We like the stuff so we notice treasures. You wouldn't believe the people out there that don't care about "this old stuff". I was a "professional" buyer for a short time. A parent or spouse dies, stuff gets thrown away, taken to a buyer,given away....

The stories I've heard of ladies throwing or giving guns away when their husband died. They didn't like them,were afraid, had hatred because he gave them more attention, etc... As another example.

In a dump that has trucks bringing loads of things in all day long, everyday, ....Sure, I can believe this. Imagine the stuff that gets missed and across the country!

 

[Nitric]

Another thought I have too, because I have seen this. Parents die, leave the kids a chunk of money, kids live out of state, the run through grab what they want, empty the house to the trash, so they can get the house up for sale and go back home to their state. This happens too. When I was a teen I had a friend that his family would do this, I went along twice. Drop the dumpsters, grab what you want, we carried the rest to the dumpster. They had a little money and didn't care. What's a few hundred or thousand in nick nack stuff when you could get the $200,000 house up for sale.

 

[UnderMiner]

Another thought I have too, because I have seen this. Parents die, leave the kids a chunk of money, kids live out of state, the run through grab what they want, empty the house to the trash, so they can get the house up for sale and go back home to their state. This happens too. When I was a teen I had a friend that his family would do this, I went along twice. Drop the dumpsters, grab what you want, we carried the rest to the dumpster. They had a little money and didn't care. What's a few hundred or thousand in nick nack stuff when you could get the $200,000 house up for sale.

Agreed. I've too experienced that, at the curb of a house that someone had died the relatives literally threw away everything from the inside of the house - even things that were obviously valuable. A box full of $50+ in spare change, a silver coin collection, more than I can list here just use your imagination - gold rings, the next month the house was sold for a $750,000 dollars, so... they likely didn't miss the junk at the curb at all. This plays out many many times everywhere for certain.

 

[Nitric]

Agreed. I've too experienced that, at the curb of a house that someone had died the relatives literally threw away everything from the inside of the house - even things that were obviously valuable. A box full of $50+ in spare change, a silver coin collection, more than I can list here just use your imagination - gold rings, the next month the house was sold for a $750,000 dollars, so... they likely didn't miss the junk at the curb at all. This plays out many many times everywhere for certain.

It's kind of funny...We would have people bring stuff to us that just did not care. The best one I ever met was an older lady, I repaired watches for her son. He passed, she had no other family and practically gave me the stuff. The whole time she was complaining about how much her son and husband spent on guns and watches. The guy she called on the guns...Gave her $75 for long guns and something like $100 for each hand gun. She was happy as could be!!! But some of those guns were worth thousands. She didn't care. Another guy bought the wristwatches cigar boxes of rolex's and other good watches...I'm not sure what she charged him, but I'm sure it wasn't much. She gave me the pocket watches, I started out telling her the real prices and she would tell me "oh no" I told her there is no way I can afford these this is above me. She asked, "How about $75 each?" I couldn't get the money fast enough and I still had to pay thousands. No one would believe it..... She was donating whatever money she collected and whatever was left when she died went to the state, there was no family.

There are people out there that just don't care!

 

[dansalata]

i have followed your finds for a while and ya know what........freekin awesome..rock on!!!

 

[Argentium]

You are so right UnderMiner , and you too Nitric ! A lot of people just don't know or care about precious metals . How many young bank tellers have I met - who have no idea about U.S. coins , but the garbage dump ? seems like we've reached a new low in terms of ignorance !