There is a metals dealer at a nearby flea market that buys silverplate for about $4 a pound. I have seen a fair amount of silverplate around, trays and various other forms. Clearly the amount of silver is tiny, the core is generally copper as I understand it. Does anyone know if this is top dollar?
I like this topic....................I made some good finds this summer. $4.00 a pound sounds like a good price for silverplate. The cost to recover the silver plate is usually more than the what the recovered silver is worth. That being said, there are refiners that will refine silverplate but you need a lot of it. I did phone my local refiner and they wouldn't do it unless I had a minimum amount. If I remember correctly, he said minmum was 500 kilograms or a little over 1000 lbs. I still buy silverplate at garage sales, but only items that have a lot of weight to them. I avoid items such as plated copper trays and decorative items. Silverplate flatware usually has marks indicating the amount of silverplate. Just a few are A1 - AA - triple plate - quadruple plate. Anything marked Nickel Silver contains no silver but is a beautiful cream colored alloy. Originally sold as being better than silverplate. Also called German Silver. No silverplate marks on silver items are always interesting. I recently I picked up a spoon with only an inverted LA mark. I later found out it's from the late 1700's and is coin silver. Have several more to research. Have also found a few Sterling pieces of flatware. People won't stick an old silver coin in a garage sale but won't think twice about throwing an old tarnished real silver fork or spoon into a box with a bunch of other junk items. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the response. There are buyers available of smaller quantities, like the fellow at the flea market. My concern is that those who have good silverplate not be discouraged into junking it when they should have incentives to sell it for top dollar. The underpaying buyers plague every market and they prevent an honest marketplace from developing and being sustained. Here in Connecticut Guilford Coin has been offering more than most of the other buyers in some areas, even than Sam Sloat. But there are even higher buyers than them, but you have to fax a list of what you have to the high buyer and then ship your material or drive to the shop or coin show.
