what should I do with all of my silverplate

[tattooedmomma]

Is there someplace that will melt it and pay me for the silver content??

 

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[Seamuss]

There is such a small amount of silver on plated items that it cost as much as the silver is worth to remove it. If the items are usable then you can keep them or sell in a yard sale or to a local dealer near you. If silver go up to thirty forty dollars an ounce, then it would be worth you effort to reclaim the silver.

There is only a few cents worth of silver in most plated items. Sterling items are about ninety two and a half percent silver making these items will worth reclaiming the silver in them.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Sterling items are about ninety two and a half percent silver making these items will worth reclaiming the silver in them.

Not the case if you check ebay... People just dont seem to be buying anything Sterling .925, even for melt value...

 

[Seamuss]

Sterling items are about ninety two and a half percent silver making these items will worth reclaiming the silver in them.

Not the case if you check ebay... People just dont seem to be buying anything Sterling .925, even for melt value...

In the title, the question was about silver plate and melt value. I was giving information about the low silver content of plate compared to sterling.

I will admit that I don't deal with ebay, but I do find some sterling once in a while.

 

[jeff of pa]

I Couldn't sell Gold Plate to my Buyer when Gold
was around $800

He said No Market for it.

I would think the same with Silver Plate.

He did Buy all my sterling Though.

 

[Seamuss]

There is no profit in plated items. The PM content value is lower then the cost of refining.

 

[jeff of pa]

There is no profit in plated items. The PM content value is lower then the cost of refining.

What is strange is their were Buyers of Plate in the 70's
When gold hit it's High back then.
Not sure if it was Cheaper refining then
Or speculation.

I remember adds in the Back of coinworld
advertising they buy Gold Plate.

I Know I wouldn't want to Scrape the Plate off
Till I Had enough to Melt down & Make a Brick

Probably only a Pennies worth of 18K on a Ring
Probably not even a Pennies worth of silver on a Plated
Tea Pot

 

[Silver Surfer]

The silver plate is a non-issue.. I wouldnt take it either if I were a dealer... BUT... Sterling is 92% pure silver. so how much hassle is it to take to a guy that deals in scrap precious metal? Seems pretty simple, melt it down, throw in some seperator and then take the silver on top... Voila! Pure silver that you can now throw in an ingot and now you have money! But is has got to be sterling. Plated is worth nothing...

I am going to find a company that deals with precious metals for re-processing and see what they are giving for silver. IF thedont want to smelter it down themselves, then I will, and make little two pound ingots, and then sell them to them...

Any body have contacts with a really cool metals guy? If so, send me his info so I can contact him... Maybe we can deal...

 

[goldsworthy]

Buy Silver eagles stay away from that plated stuff!

 

[jewelerdave]

The Straight up on Plate from a guy who Refines. IT depends on what its plated on. the Chemistry has a lot to do with it.

Silver plate on Nickel, or on brass, or copper nickel alloy...costs more to get it off than the silver is worth. When I am Given it for Free, I take it down to the scrap yard and get a buck a pound for it...a lot more than the silver is worth...go for the copper nickel, thats money, far more than the silver.

Silver plated onto things like steal, say bolts or electrical contacts etc. HSE(heavy Silver Electroplate) yes, that can be recovered. I recently did a batch of stainless steel bolts that were heavy silver plate and on 10 pounds of the stuff got a whole 1/3 oz of silver, In enough bulk...worth doing So I spent an hour and about $2 worth of acid and chemicals to make $4 So if you really have nothing better going on...it can be done.

On gold plate.
Depends on what its plated on and how thick....the dog of it all is the copper, It takes a lot of Acid to dissolve away the copper. Then you have to process the plate. Witch is not always pure btw. Its marginal at best to pull off of. Again, if you have a 5 gallon bucket full of the stuff and nothing else going on. It can be recoverd but yields are low. Costs of extraction are high. There are some guys who do it. Some its economical if you go after the high grade stuff.

Perfect example, Heavy Gold Electroplate on Sterling, like the Franklin mint stuff from the 70s, Heavy plate right. I did some 30 oz of silver plated with the stuff and I got a whopping 1/4 gram of fine gold off of it.
Recoverable...yes, Economical...nope. even at $1100 per oz that's just $8...and how much work? So figure HGE is only about 25cents on each silver round at todays prices...no thank you.

 

[Silver Surfer]

But what about Sterling Dave?
Why isnt there a market for it now? I'm still befuddled as to why the stuff isnt selling, even for junk silver, on epay....

 

[jeff of pa]

But what about Sterling Dave?
Why isnt there a market for it now? I'm still befuddled as to why the stuff isnt selling, even for junk silver, on epay....

Silver Buyers Buy Sterling.

I Sold all mine.

EBayer's are another Story.

 

[jewelerdave]

best I can figure on the sterling phenomenon is that its all based on emotion.
Sterling used to be the king of silver as you could do stuff with it, I like it, I can melt it directly into jewelry and its good to go.

I think it has a lot to do with Dealers shooting them selves in the foot by being lazy. Pushing either 90% or .999 fine. Dealing with .925 involves Math and thinking. With 90% traded at a face value X "X" say 12x and with Fine being at what ever price plus or minus X...these products are of a known weight and measure, and are common.

When you had old units of Measurement on sterling, or companies selling sterling at weird denominations say in Grains or pennyweights but made of sterling, say franklin mint crap. It was to help hide the bullion value in order to push a product at a premium...people would be .8 oz of fine silver for $19.95 in the early 70's...they were buying the packaging and not the $2 in silver.

Also most utility silver like flatware and tea pots and other things like jewelry are not standard units of measure. You have to weigh them, make a calculation, it takes time, it takes knowledge . Anyone with half a brain can figure it out. But again. the quick and easy factor is not there.

Take that and you get product pushers. Dealers who say this is better than that when its all the same. Why does every A hole out there want Englehard or American Eagles? cause there coin dealer had it or there gun dealer or grandpa said it was better just because...when in fact its the same stuff as generic mints put out. Why do people commonly accept generic silver rounds but when it comes to gold freak out?

Why did the Chinese Chop Mark all Spanish and American and other Silver coins of the era? they were interested in the metal, Not the maker....today people are about the maker and not the metal so much. A product of Western Marketing is all.

100 years ago...it did not matter, Sterling traded the same along with fine or coin or 90% or %80 or what ever it was. IT was all Good Silver. Fast Forward to today, Marketing has taken hold and yep...people want one thing over another...even though they are not using it, just storing it as wealth or on speculation...it should all be the same.

As a jeweler of course I like Sterling because I use it. I can turn it into other things, I dont have to alloy it or mess with it, its good to go...but in a day and age where people who use it for its utility is a vanishing thing. Stores of Wealth are of more interest...with the marketing.

Same thing about 14k Coins, Why do dealers shy from then? and 22k and .900 coins. All trade at discounts compared to Fine.
Krugerrands trade to me for less as they are just 90% I have to refine it to use it. Maple leaves I love to melt down. Cheap, numerous, Ready to alloy.
American Eagles are the only 90% gold coin that brings a premium....here.

I was in Germany a few weeks ago and stopped by a little gold shop. I was able to buy 1/10 oz American Eagle Gold coins AT SPOT because they could not sell that "Shit" in Germany. I bought em all and sold them back in the states at a $25 per coin profit. The going rate now.

So its all perspective, demand, and marketing...why are proof Eagles going for $1700 per oz right now? Home Shopping network is selling them for that. Marketing.