sterling silver as part of your silver hoard

does anyone consider .925 sterling silver as part of their silver "hoard" , stockpile , or whatev er you choose to call your cache of the shiney stuff?

 

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As well as coins, I have some silver spoons and some silver jewelry in my junk silver bucket.

 

Of got a fair number of "sterling" commemoritives most are 1.2-1.4 oz however rather then the standard 1oz but yes .925 works i got a bunch of broken silver scrap and no shortage of 90% junk silver coins most scrap buyers don't even bother to seperate them for weighing.

 

I have some silver Britannias is my hoard. TC

 

i try to stay away from the jewelry, i am lucky to get 80/85% of its melt value, most of the it is 75%. flatware on the other hand i can get a decent amount for, 92% ish.

 

If I find silver for sale at less than melt, I'll buy it. I have a few ounces of scrap sterling silver and damaged coins that I'm accumulating because someday I'd like to try my hand at refining and make a 5 oz bar or ingot with the highest purity I can achieve. Not necessarily for resale or profit, but just for the fun of it.

 

Seven years ago, it was a simple task to go into an antique shop and find silver below melt. Now, there is very little left and what there is sells for about double melt.

 

^^^ What he said.

If it was easy to find under melt, I'd have a lot more than three ounces. I'm certainly not going to pay 2x melt value for sterling silver.

I've recently started searching for FeeBay auctions that have sterling silver in them. I've seen some close under spot, but haven't caught any of them yet.

 

I have some silver pieces, but I bought them for the item not the silver. In my "pile" of silver the only sterling I believe that is there is some junk GB coins.

 

I collected quite a bit of sterling flatware when silver was cheap. I also collect old Taxco silver...William Spratling pieces, mostly. Not the type of things one would melt.

 

Indeed. I bought some sterling silver jewelry making tubes, got them for about ~85% of spot value. They're not marked, but it is easy enough to acid test these. I also visit the local Goodwill store, I've bought marked sterling jewelry (not much though) for usually about 50-75% of spot value. If it feels like 3 grams or more and the price is $1.96, I'll snatch that deal all day long. It's more difficult to unload this stuff for a decent price, but I'm looking long term (like when silver breaks $100)... cheap silver is cheap silver.

 

It seems that most everyone that responded has the same opinion as mine. I was just curious what others felt about sterling as for the pm value. I was considering having it melted into 1 oz bars but unless you go with a reputable and easily recognized maker for the mark it does not seem to worth your time or effort, and at that the point the cost is not worth it. I buy When I can find it below spot, but even the stuff marked 925 I still do a quick magnet test with it before I buy.

 

I eat off fine Sterling Silverware; it's useful.

I'm surprised Silver bugs aren't buying from 'neighbors' via CL. (Someone mentioned the risk of 'house theft' as a RESULT; doubt that: overblown, paranoid fear.)
Buying from a local (-10 > -15% off spot) probably gives that seller alot more $$ than they'd otherwise get from a pawn or LCS, so it's win-win.

But for MELT, research what the refiners ACTUALLY PAY - it's not Spot, folks.

I know at least one GoldBug who has accumulated a very large Sterling stash this way, well Below Spot.

 

These are actually 95% silver. I like them too.

 

Sure, why not? I actually just started searching local thrift stores for it; isn't always recognized and priced accordingly. Just today I bought a Sterling picture frame for 60 cents. Haven't had a chance to weight it, but it's got to be at least 6 grams, probably more, based on comparing it to the heft of a silver half (not quite as heavy, but close). I wouldn't buy anything that's not marked though. Unless it's a serious antique, Sterling is always marked.

 

+1 And, it makes the food taste better!

I put together 12 place settings of a 1940's pattern that I bought piece meal from eBay at close to melt, sometimes below melt. Why melt it when it's worth more intact?

 

Actually, I've accumulated quite a pile of earlier Canadian quarters and halves that is sterling.

 

don't forget early british coins were sterling as well

 

Silver is silver.
What would be different if you bought junk coins. They are only 90% so less silver in those then sterling.

 

Duke-

An antique shop near me has tons of "coin silver" silverware marked and sold as such. Not sure IF or HOW much it's discounted over pure Ag, but I wouldn't expect any at all under Sterling. It's trifle.

I'm not sure that refiners paying you MELT (what they pay, NOT Spot!) give appreciably more for Sterling (92.5%) than billion (90% Ag) - probably not so different for small quantity of scrap, I'd guess.