Silver at Thriftstore!

[Mvgirl]

Hello folks! It's been a long while since I've posted. Been into thrifting vintage items to re-sell. Found this spoon....does anyone knkw if its silver or silver plated?! It says "Sterling" then AMC and another letter i cant see. On the bowl of the spoon it says Clear Lake which is a poplar summer spot for tourists.

thanks!!
-Mvgirl

 

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[cudamark]

Looks like Sterling silver to me.

 

[DigToChina]

Engraving on the bowl not showing another colour metal is promising. Congratulations MV

 

[Mvgirl]

Engraving on the bowl not showing another colour metal is promising. Congratulations MV

Great thanks! That's what I was thinking too...often plated will have rainbow colors on it. When it says sterling that means silver. But was just concerned that I couldn't make out the bottom marks...in case those were indicating it was plated. But I think it's all good.

 

[cudamark]

I've never seen sterling used on anything that was plated, but, I guess it's possible. There are all kinds of fakes out there.

 

[tamrock]

I'm pretty sure that's sterling silver. It's an old souvenir spoon beautifully made unlike the plated later ones. They're not nearly as collectible as in the past, but some collectors are still out there going after the vintage solid silver and enamel ones. I just searched "Sterling Canada Souvenir Spoon" on ebay and it seems many single spoons of that description sell for more than what the spot silver price would be in value. I so enjoy hunting antique shops, flea markets and places that have old things for sale. It can be at times unbelievable what ends up in those places and I've made some pretty healthy returns on some the things I've found and purchased cheap over the years.

 

[Mvgirl]

I'm pretty sure that's sterling silver. It's an old souvenir spoon beautifully made unlike the plated later ones. They're not nearly as collectible as in the past, but some collectors are still out there going after the vintage solid silver and enamel ones. I just searched "Sterling Canada Souvenir Spoon" on ebay and it seems many single spoons of that description sell for more than what the spot silver price would be in value. I so enjoy hunting antique shops, flea markets and places that have old things for sale. It can be at times unbelievable what ends up in those places and I've made some pretty healthy returns on some the things I've found and purchased cheap over the years.

Great thanks for the info! I'll definitely try to get more then face value if I decide to sell. I agree it's so thrilling to find old things and make a profit! Even if the return isn't too much, it's still fun to research and find out the info and history of an item. Thanks and have a good day! Happy hunting

 

[Digger RJ]

Hello folks! It's been a long while since I've posted. Been into thrifting vintage items to re-sell. Found this spoon....does anyone knkw if its silver or silver plated?! It says "Sterling" then AMC and another letter i cant see. On the bowl of the spoon it says Clear Lake which is a poplar summer spot for tourists.

thanks!!
-Mvgirl
View attachment 2028411

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[tamrock]

I might add I'm pretty sure the mark below Sterling is BMCo and not AMC. It's a maker's mark found on quite a few souvenir spoons for Canada. I'm really uncertain who that mark belongs to, but they seem to have produce a variety of souvenir spoons.

 

[WannaDig3687]

Wow! Good eye. Mvgirl! Welcome back, also.

 

[Gare]

So what would be a amount value of this spoon ?

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

Hello folks! It's been a long while since I've posted. Been into thrifting vintage items to re-sell. Found this spoon....does anyone knkw if its silver or silver plated?! It says "Sterling" then AMC and another letter i cant see. On the bowl of the spoon it says Clear Lake which is a poplar summer spot for tourists.

thanks!!
-Mvgirl
View attachment 2028411

good find, I believe the stamp identifying it as sterling silver

 

[Mvgirl]

I might add I'm pretty sure the mark below Sterling is BMCo and not AMC. It's a maker's mark found on quite a few souvenir spoons for Canada. I'm really uncertain who that mark belongs to, but they seem to have produce a variety of souvenir spoons.

Really? OK thanks for that bit of information

 

[Mvgirl]

So what would be a amount value of this spoon ?

About $4.50 right now...it's a pretty light spoon. But silver can go up and it doesn't go bad.

 

[Gare]

About $4.50 right now...it's a pretty light spoon. But silver can go up and it doesn't go bad.

Mv Thank you very much !!1
So a SS spoon is worth that much WOW

 

[Red-Coat]

Silver souvenir spoons are always a favourite for collectors. I have no doubt that it’s sterling silver. Lots of silver items with crests and coats of arms were further embellished by enamelling to give the true colours of the emblems.

Tamrock is correct that the mark is ‘BMCo’ and it’s for the Breadner Manufacturing Company of Hull, Quebec, Canada. They were founded in 1903 and used the mark below until 1930 when they became the Breadner Company Ltd (and carried on making that particular spoon design but not with the BMCo mark):



In terms of value, vintage ones do rather better than melt value and might fetch around $10-15 in nice condition, also depending on size/weight. Antique ones up to maybe double that. Yours is either antique or more likely bordering on becoming an antique (conventionally defined as more than 100 years old).

 

[Mvgirl]

Mv Thank you very much !!1
So a SS spoon is worth that much WOW

If you have a scale, weigh your spoon then go online and find a silver value calculator. Be very careful because 99% of the silverware you see is silver plated, so not worth anything in silver value. If you can, bring your phone to look up a spoon or something that you think is silver...type in the markings you see and see if the information tells you if it's plated or not.

 

[Mvgirl]

Silver souvenir spoons are always a favourite for collectors. I have no doubt that it’s sterling silver. Lots of silver items with crests and coats of arms were further embellished by enamelling to give the true colours of the emblems.

Tamrock is correct that the mark is ‘BMCo’ and it’s for the Breadner Manufacturing Company of Hull, Quebec, Canada. They were founded in 1903 and used the mark below until 1930 when they became the Breadner Company Ltd (and carried on making that particular spoon design but not with the BMCo mark):

View attachment 2028959

In terms of value, vintage ones do rather better than melt value and might fetch around $10-15 in nice condition, also depending on size/weight. Antique ones up to maybe double that. Yours is either antique or more likely bordering on becoming an antique (conventionally defined as more than 100 years old).

Wow thanks so much for this information! I really enjoy knowing the facts about my finds, especially their age. Helps me decide how to price and what to do with it. It's a very light weight spoon, but I'm hoping collectors will still be interested in it, since I am not a spoon collector I will try to sell it.

Happy hunting!!