Crazy Good Luck . . . Check Out My Thrift Store Find!

Went thrift store hunting for the first time mid-last week, and as I was leaving a small, skinny silver colored vase caught my eye amongst the shelf of brass pieces. Upon picking it up I noticed it's heavy weight, much heavier than I would expect a tin/aluminum or other silver colored, cheap metal to weigh. I noticed some light brown toning around some of the creases near the handle of the vase, as well as inside of the mouth of the vase. I checked the whole thing for any markings, and there were none. The only thing on the vase was a sticker that said 'Made in China' and it was stuck to the green felt bottom. I assumed this vase was either heavily silver plated (it had the silver ding to it when I flicked it) over a cheaper metal, or maybe even nickel.

Took it up to the register and inquired about the price. $1.95. I bought it.

Got it home, ripped the felt bottom off of it, which revealed that the inside of the bottom round portion of the vase is actually hollow, and that even on the inside all the way through to the top mouth of the vase it was all the same silver color as the outside. Examined it with a magnifier, found absolutely zero markings. Did the magnet test - no attraction whatsoever (I know this can't conclusively determine silver, but it does rule out some common metals). Took a pair of heavy duty wire cutters and punctured the inside hollow part of the base pretty deep, only to reveal deeper layers of beautiful, shiny silver.

I don't have any chemical for an acid test, so I took the vase to Shane Co. Jewelers near my place. I asked one of the salesmen on the floor if he could help me out. He inspected the piece with his magnifying glass inside and out, concluded at the least it had a nice silver coating on it. He told me to wait because he wanted the jeweler to check it out. Had the showroom assistant take it back to them to look at. I waited out front in the lobby so nervous for several minutes, then the girl brought it back out and said 'Yes, our jeweler said it's solid sterling.'


This is probably one of the luckiest things that's ever happened to me. The vase weighs 9 Troy Ounces, and again - I paid $1.95. This just proves that there are silver treasures to be found at thrift shops and garage sales in your area, so don't ever assume there aren't (I def won't anymore)! Here's a photo:

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It does seem odd that it was not marked .925 anywhere.

I hope you keep it as a lucky charm instead of sending it off to be melted.

 

Rub that thing and see if Barbara Eden pops out!
Lucky..

 

I have to say that I have never seen one with the green felt and a made in china sticker to be sterling. I have seen hundreds, maybe thousands that are not... I'm not saying that they are wrong but it would be a first for me... and I see this stuff every day.

I'd get another opinion.

 

I agree. I have seen silver color vases like this, some in China, some in SE Asia, some in the US, and haven't seen any that were even partly silver. I hope I am wrong as well, but sterling is almost always marked as such. The pieces I have seen silver colored were a brass/pot metal blend like they use for medium quality coin forgeries.

Have you tried to do a specific gravity test?

Either way its a good find, please do not think we are trying to throw cold water on you Mi26chell. We are simply trying to help.

 

If it is solid sterling than you did very well!

 

Not even sure of what that is - is it something I could do at home?

 

Its best if you know someone with good calibration of a vessel. You start with a certain level of fluids, put the item in, and see how much water it displaces. Then, knowing that and its weight you can see how much each CC of your vase weighs. This will tell you if it could be sterling silver.

NO offense meant to your original post, I have just found jewelry stores, absent a mark, to be very inconsistent verifiers of gold or silver. I had a jewelry store declare a platinum ring I had to be sterling once, and a silver plate item to be solid silver. I almost lost a ton buying it if I hadn't doubted them and figure out myself it wasn't pure, just heavy plate.

 

A rough specific gravity test needs the volume of the object and its weight. Weight is easy. Volume will take a little work. You will need a container that can hold the object. Fill it with enough water so that when the object is put in that water doesn't over flow the edge. Ok , now take the object out of the container, make a mark at the water level. (level1).Then put the object in and mark the level of the water ( level2). Now you need some kind of measuring device such as a measuring cup that is marked in cc or ml.Take the object out , and measure the amount of water that needs to be added to bring the level1 back up to the level2 mark. That is the volume of the object. sp. gr. = the wt. in grams / volume of object. Sterling silver should be about 10.2-10.3.

Oh, forgot, the cloth, etc. will have to be removed, although if it is small, it shouldn't make a significant difference.

 

Thanks for the better explanation Jim. I think I was just too lazy to go through all of that.

 

I'd try to sell it to the jeweler.

The lack of markings would worry me.

 

Wow! Thanks for all the replies everyone. Desertgem and Medoraman - thanks for the explanations of the gravity test. I have all the stuff to do one and am planning on doing it tonight when I get home and I'll post the results for everyone

Here are some more photos I snapped last night. One of them is a photo of the inside spot where I made a gouge with heavy duty wire cutters, one is the piece with a solid sterling spoon sitting inside the handle to compare the visual, physical attributes of the metal, and one is an ASE sitting near the inside of the base for the same purpose.

 

Forgot to mention - the yellow stains at the bottom of the piece are from the glue that held the plastic/felt bottom on that I ripped off.

The very last photo of the bowl of the sterling spoon near the base of vase is just to show the similarity between the tarnished/darkened black spots on the spoon and the few that are inside the base of the vase.

 

Well, I performed the test twice in two different sized pitchers. The weight is 250 grams, and the amount of water necessary to go from mark #2 to mark #1 was 25 cc's. So the volume from that would be 10, I guess? What kind of freakish metal has a volume of 10? I wish I had actual lab equipment to get the most accurate number possible.