Found the Family Silver!

[UnderMiner]

Visited the dump today expecting the usual 2 cents and a broken VCR, instead I spotted a crushed candle holder. Ever curious, I picked it up and I looked it over. To my surprise I spotted a ".925" stamp! In shock I looked around the place to see if I could find its mate! But what I found was even better. In a nearby a pile of junk were, among other things, someone's entire family silver set!

The entire hoard consists of two hollow sterling candle holders, a little sterling saucer, sterling sugar bowl, an amazingly detailed sterling and gold washed goblet, and an unbelievably exquisite sterling cake stand. Will undoubtedly be returning tomorrow to make sure I got everything!

In total the hoard contains 1,178 grams of Sterling, or 2.6 pounds. What a haul!

The plunder very shortly after discovery:


The sterling goblet. "My God..." were my only words upon seeing it.
It is damaged unfortunately, but it is still one of the most beautiful treasures I have ever found:


My attempts to repair the goblet succeeded to some extent but I've decided to let a professional take over from here. If I had to guess I'd say it's from the early 1900's:


The sterling cake tray is the biggest and best preserved piece in the hoard. I cleaned the grime off of it a bit for these pictures:


It was made by Reed and Barton, which my research indicates is an insanely expensive brand. This piece alone may easily be worth over a grand:


The sticks were the first things I found and I thought they were junk, but they're marked ".925" sterling. One is crushed beyond repair. Both are hollow :


The sterling sugar bowl (before I fixed it) and the small sterling saucer:

 

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[UnderMiner]

You never cease to Amaze us with your recoveries...

Likewise, your research and dedication always gets you the gold!

 

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[fireaero1]

great find. I'll admit that I'm a dumpster diver and a dump scavager.

 

[UnderMiner]

Man UnderMiner, you killed it again! Folks use to be able to go to the Sanitation Landfills (Dumps) here and collect all of the Copper, Aluminum and other great items that were thrown out and still good or very valuable. However, all of that has changed and the folks that work at the Landfills as well as some Jail Inmates they bring in, go through everything that comes in and separate everything that is recyclable and more. At the local Landfill here, they have now gone as far as pulling out the items that are still good (some still new in box) and sell them onsite. The days of rummaging through other's trash and throw outs is gone to us here. Dang, if it weren't for the high rent, the high costs of living and the really cold winters up there which is getting rougher on my' old bones, I would be there in a Tennessee/New York minute and be doing the things you are doing!

Frank

The times are getting tougher here too. New laws just past this year restrict what people can toss to the curb now. No more computers, TV's, microwaves, electronics, etc. I used to find so many nice electronics, some were broken, but others worked perfectly. That chapter is over now but luckily I still have many friends in the sanitation department and salvage yards so I can keep hunting these places. Curbs still yield treasures though, its just tough to spot them.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Wow! That is a stunning find! Congrats awesome saves!
Wish it could talk!
The goblet may have been a wedding goblet that the bride and groom drank from.
This was a clean out of some kind, either the cleaner or grandkids didn't know it's value.

 

[NEPADIGGER7]

Reed and Barton have been in business for over 175 years those pieces are worth more than scrap possibly even the damaged !!! Great finds take me to that dump please!

 

[wv hilljack]

Wow! absolutely amazing a find of a life time. I would be out there with a flashlight right now.

 

[Plumbata]

A truly stunning haul of silver! I dig old garbage dumps for bottles and have recovered over a pound of sterling and a gold ring as welcome "bycatch". People have been throwing away good stuff for ages.

'so why don't we just look in people's garbage for all the expensive toys they threw out?' It sounded like a silly idea, but to this day I've probably found more treasure disposed of in the trash than anywhere else.

Ain't that the truth! I pulled a 1950s "Pluto Platter" (forerunner to the Frisbee) from a curbside house cleanout and got 556.00 for that alone. Plenty of 1950s toys and a Yogi Berra baseball card came out of that too. Ya can't shake a stick at "garbage" like that!

Keep it up man!

 

[time machine]

As huntsman53 stated it's amazing all that treasure got by the recycler these days. When I was a kid back in the seventy a few friends and
I found boxes of envelopes in a local dump, every fifty or so envelopes had a twenty dollar bill. For the time twenty dollars was a lot of money
and out of two hundred or so we open, my friends and I score Eighty dollar. Well as kids do we went on a spending spree and to make this story
short our parents found out. Till to this day none of us know how much money are parents found because we left hundreds if not a thousand
envelopes unopened. UnderMiner that's some great unexpected finds but really all finds are unexpected. Thanks TM.

 

[UnderMiner]

When I was a kid back in the seventies a few friends and I found boxes of envelopes in a local dump, every fifty or so envelopes had a twenty dollar bill.

Man, what an epic feeling that must have been. Finding treasures sure makes fond memories, even more so if we were children at the time. Your story reminded me alot of one of my more recent finds, a very old discarded envelope with two 1960's era $20 bills inside. Just imagine how much money has been disposed of throughout the ages by clueless people. Good thing there are people like us to recover some of it.

 

[Army of 1]

Congrats UnderMiner , that's an awesome score , what some people dump just dumbfounds me ..cheers Mick

 

[Bass]

That's a great haul! Wow! You scored big on this one. Congratulations

 

[creade]

Nothing wrong with that Probably a kid cleaning out their parents house. Wonder what else is there

 

[Daryn]

Absolutely stunning ! I think this is easily Banner Worthy ! (or I'm interested in hearing why not !)

Great eyeball find but I feel that since it wasn't found metal detecting then a banner would be out of place. Right?

 

[Aquila]

nice. i have also found three silver candle holders from scrap metal dumpster

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

Oh crap! Great save!

 

[shootist]

You city people

 

[JerseyDigger19]

JACKPOT!!! Incredible finds! Congratulations on an amazing silver treasure trove!

 

[scruggs]

Makes you wonder what the person was thinking about that tossed it.....you were at the right place at the right time! Sweet haul!!!

 

[Garrett424]

Fantastic silver hoard find.
Gotta' love the dump.....

 

[Auriemma]

Only in NYC do they throw away silver!

Excellent save!