Weighted Sliver Servey.

[dejapooh]

I was wondering how to figure out if a piece of weighted silver is a good buy. It is difficult if not impossible to try to calculate the actual silver. I was at an estate sale today, and they sold weighted items at 35% to 40% of spot. That still seems high to me. I was thinking, we have enough people who buy weighted silver here and tear it apart that perhaps we could sticky this, and start a database. If you get some weighted silver, let us know the weight before you tear it apart and the weight after. If we get enough items in here, we MAY be able to come up with a general rule... a safe price for weighted silver.

 

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[palidin20603]

safe price is 10% of total weight in grams is sterling. I just did a pair of fisher weighted small candlelabras and ended up at 12.4% sterling.

 

[war-digs-it]

Ahhh, those title words on ebay have made me some cash. Silver scrap per maker and patterns vary enormously.
This is one of those areas of expertise that may not get much input, I don't know? I paid thousands to break even learning
scrap silver weighted value on various patterns. One set may yield 15 grams, another 3 troy ounces. That game ended for me with the crashing of silver value. At an estate sale, if it's not a steal, it's not a deal.

 

[dejapooh]

Ahhh, those title words on ebay have made me some cash. Silver scrap per maker and patterns vary enormously.
This is one of those areas of expertise that may not get much input, I don't know? I paid thousands to break even learning
scrap silver weighted value on various patterns. One set may yield 15 grams, another 3 troy ounces. That game ended for me with the crashing of silver value. At an estate sale, if it's not a steal, it's not a deal.

Would you agree with palidin that a good starting point is about 10%? I've walked past a lot of Weighted, the lowest I've found so far was about 30%. That does not seem like a safe enough price...

 

[billn1956]

It all depends on what your doing with it. Are you saving it for the next time silver runs up to 50.00 or are you sending it off regulary to a refiner ? If you are saving it ,it will not hurt to pay up to spot, if you are trying to pad your pay on a regular plan you would want to get it at as cheap as you can. Hope I helped,my self I know silver has just run up a couple of times to where I considered it to be high.So I am probaly saving for my grand kids. Gold an silver

 

[inspectorgadget]

I have to wonder why even scrap these weighted items unless their trashed already? I have scrapped out salt & pepper shakers only to get about 12 grams of silver & I have sold the same exact shakers for $45 on the bay. Scrapping them was a big loss compared to selling them as they are. This might not always hold true but I have always been able to get more selling weighted items as whole than what scrapping the same weighted items would get me. Again this is if the item isn't trashed which a lot of old silver is.

 

[trdhrdr007]

When I first started buying sterling I carried a small notebook & kept a record of every item I scrapped. I don't think you can go wrong assuming 10% of the weight is sterling unless you are looking at salt/pepper shakers with the glass & plaster lining.

 

[palidin20603]

shakers are the worst. Stay away unless you want a learning experience. HH

 

[diggummup]

shakers are the worst. Stay away unless you want a learning experience. HH

That depends on the shakers. Here is a set of weighted ones I have that scrapped out to 2 ozs.-

 

[palidin20603]

Darn! What maker are those shakers?

That depends on the shakers. Here is a set of weighted ones I have that scrapped out to 2 ozs.-

View attachment 903923

 

[diggummup]

They are marked N S Co. Sterling weighted.

As for the the OP, I think the 10% rule is a good basic one. war-digs-it has made an excellent point in the variations of weighted items. Some weigh more, very few weigh less than 10%, unless it has a glass liner or something like trdhrdr007 mentioned. Estate sales are the hardest to find a deal on sterling. I have found foreign silver, unmarked silver and items where the hallmarks have actually worn off for a deal at estate sales. As estate sales go, very rarely will you find a deal on a marked piece unless it's a designer signed piece that they didn't research or know about. Inspectorgadget has made a good point too. Unless it's a damaged piece, don't scrap it. The value is usually more than melt.