Seeing Silver Everywhere! Some help please?

pat-tekker-cat

pat-tekker-cat

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Feb 23, 2011
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Hey all and thanks a lot in advance. I know ya'll kinda like these type stuffs too.

Someone was talking in one of the threads a week or two or three ago about "weighted" silver, I tried to find it and couldn't, and can't remember what all I read now. I got my work cut out with researching and polishing too! Hope ya'll like the pics, I kinda fell in to the silver mine, LOL! I got a lot of stuff hallmarked Fisher and/or Bradford sterling with numbers, and here were a few other hallmarks.
I got some questions towards the end. Thanks again.

silver1.jpgsilver2.jpgsilver3.jpgsilver4.jpgsilver5.jpg

For the amount of silver I have to clean and more(that I have to pick up next week), does anyone have a best, easiest, or preferred cleaning method?
These cup/glass holders are throwing me for a loop. There's NO STAMP or hallmark of any sort, that I can find, nor can I find any like them. Anyone got a clue or ever see these before? I believe they may have come from Paris, or possibly Italy. I started cleaning the two, it seems nice clean silver gets better money, and with everything else being wrapped and so well cared for, I just believed these would be silver also.

cup1.jpgcup2.jpgcup3.jpgcup4.jpg

Once I get them clean I'll be selling them, probably for un-godly amounts :laughing7: , I hope! If anyone may be interested.......
Thanks again for any help, have fun & HH!
 

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Wow that's quite the haul
 

Tarnex. I pour it into a bowl, dip it in or set it in and once it's clean, wash it off. When I'm done, funnel it back into the bottle for next time. I've done it this way for at least 5 years. Never had a problem with it.
 

I go to this site Silver Marks to run down makers. Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks It looks like most of what you have in sterling is U.S. made. I think the Tarnex will for sure do the job. Not sure the glass holders are sterling and most likely silver plate, but do be certain of that. Take just two or so to a silver buyer and see what he thinks. If he likes them and makes an offer on them ask, what kind of silver are they? If he says sterling or alloy silver you've got good stuff, just tell him you'd like to think it over and go. If they're not good solid silver he won't want them. I would clean them up, look on ebay at tea glasses and try and see what color is selling the higest. Go to Target, Pier 1 Imports or some store like that and find a clear color glass in that popular color that fit the holders. List them as Color Tea Glasses with vintage or antique silver holders. Good stuff you've got. I'm jealous.
 

Thanks a lot everyone! Tarnex it will be, isabella! I needed to pick up a small thing of jewelry cleaner at wallyworld or kmart anyway, so will get BIG bottle of Tarnex, too!
Thanks for the ideas tamrock, and the hallmark link, I'll be looking for a dozen colored glasses too.
I agree, they would make a cool windchime, I'd probably have the thing tyed up all the time, LOL! I've seen real cool windhimes done with spoons, forks, knives, down at the artists world in the upper Keys.

Thanks again everyone. i'll probably start listing them in a few days on the bay.
Just a thought....... we should probably have a sticky thread with everyones ebay sellers names. I think it's pretty cool to check out others auctions as well. Mines patsy954, here in florida. HH everyone!
 

Yes, I am a hoarder, a silver and gold hoarder! :laughing7: I may require another safe deposit box! :laughing7: The BIG one! LOL!

These actually belong to a friend in Margate. I had to pack them all up, when her best friend had to leave(along with a two bedroom apartment full of stuffs). I'm selling them off and we all share.........
I know there is another bag somewhere, full of dinner plates and other stuffs. I just can't remember where we stuck the other bag! LOL! :BangHead:

I'll have more pics, if I ever find that other trash bag! :laughing7:
 

These cup/glass holders are throwing me for a loop. There's NO STAMP or hallmark of any sort, that I can find, nor can I find any like them. Anyone got a clue or ever see these before? I believe they may have come from Paris, or possibly Italy. I started cleaning the two, it seems nice clean silver gets better money, and with everything else being wrapped and so well cared for, I just believed these would be silver also.

View attachment 842607View attachment 842608View attachment 842609View attachment 842610

Once I get them clean I'll be selling them, probably for un-godly amounts :laughing7: , I hope! If anyone may be interested.......
Thanks again for any help, have fun & HH!

I would say these are probably not silver, just plated. I have seen hundreds of these in different styles over the years.

These were made to hold the older bell top soda glasses, like the coke glasses we all know so well. Still a good find, harder to find the holders than the glasses for sure. here is an example I could find of a new made glass and holder, of course yours have some age on them, but the idea is the same.
I would hold onto them till I found a set of coke glasses that would fit them and then sell them together.
BUT, check them out to make sure they are not silver, but i've never seen these in anything but plated.
Good find of course.
 

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Are these antiques? If so you are decreasing the value by removing that beautiful patina...
 

Also be advised, Tarnex is an acid based cleaner and will remove some silver from your items with every use. If some of your items are plated, it just may disolve all the silver from them and leave you with only the base metal. I prefer a mild polish such as Wright's silver cream. It requires more elbow grease but helps protect your silver. As far as antique silver is concerned, there are two schools of thought on the polishing issue. Yes, polishing does remove the patina/tarnish that some collectors like, but fine silver has always been polished by it's owners throughout history, and one is only continuing the natural process. I use my own judgement, if an item was used for serving (platters, silverware, cups, ect), I go ahead and polish it just as the original owners did. If the item was purely decorative (figurines, gun related items, cane heads, coins, ect.), I hold off, unless instructed to by an art dealer. Jewelry I play by ear.
 

Thanks steif for the additional info, it'll make for narrowing my research and saved me some time! ty!
Thank you everyone! I have to agree with you all, and just proceed with caution. I did pick up some jewelry cleaner(I needed that anyway), polishing cloths, and the tarnx. I am kinda tossed now, over cleaning the cup holders, I'll see what others do on the bay, and how their auctions go. I'm in no real big hurry, plus, I do need to find the matching glasses.

Bad news though, I can not find the plates! Argh! I know there were, like 10 or 12 solid sterling dinner plates, somewhere, They have either been repacked, put somewhere, idk, oh well....... maybe they'll turn up.......

Thank you again everyone. Good luck and HH to you all, too!
 

The glass holders that have been cleaned look like silver plate to me. All the silver i have ever cleaned cleans up nicely and the 2 cleaned ones in the picture still show a bluish/purple tint on them ( a characteristic i see in plated items). I am new though and hope i am wrong =)
 

Tarnish comes with time, I pay more for items with true patina than I do gleaming white silver. Since silver items have been overly reproduced faked and weighted and wrongly stamped. A true tarnish is just another tip on the age of the piece. Gotta learn what a fake tarnish looks like, yes people will put silver coins and jewelry in mayyonaise or bury them in cow manure to get that fast tarnished look. If you get items that have that wonderful rainbow tarnish on it, don't clean those sell em at a premium. People will pay money, designers will pay more, collectors of the past will see its true value and pay the most. PS most silver candle holders I have seen are weighted, but are usually marked with what they are weighted with ie lead pewter etc. Theres a big mathematical problem to figure out the true silver weight something like total surface area density alignment of venus stuff like that. Only pay for what you can see not feel. Amazing find!!!! Keep us posted on your future finds and tells us where these things are for sell at...lol
 

Thanks everyone for your input.
I agree fishguy in regards to "types" of patina. That rainbow type can be beautiful. I'll work on them 2 cleaned one, then figure where I'm going with them, and find matching glasses. No big hurry there.....
Thanks too grundy for the link.

I do have weighted pieces, they don't say what they are weighted with(?). They only have the sterling and numbers. I couldn't find that other thread that discussed the weighted stuffs either. I'm kinda going with the "just ask absurd prices..... maybe someone will bite/like....." :laughing7:
I'm working on the silver now, hoping to get it up today or tomorrow. I have some nice jewelry up on auction now, almost ending. I'll try to post ya'll a thread of some of it.
I don't do lots of pics....... but when I do........ :laughing7:
 

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