Sterling Silver on Ebay

hello everyone, i just started bidding on a couple sterling silver spoons and silverware. one im bidding on now weighs 27 grams which is about .95 oz of silver and current bid is like 19 plus 3 dollars for shipping, i mean is 24 dollars for .95oz silver a good deal ? i mean i feel confident my LCS will be willing to barter with me a bit for coins worth value. any thoughts or has this been done before on the boards ?

 

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your safe with spoons and forks. stay away from knifes, candle holders, etc. because theres no easy way to determine the silver weight

 

and sterling is .925. 27 grams is worth 23.21 today

 

can i ask how you came up with that value Bkozak ?

 

http://www.silverrecyclers.com/Calculators/ster_calculator.aspx

 

Also, keep in mind the difference between avoirdupois and troy ounces.

28.3495 grams in an avoirdupois ounce
31.1035 grams in a troy ounce

27 grams is indeed .95 of an ounce, but it's only .87 troy ounces.

Also, like bkozak pointed out, sterling is typically .925 silver, which means this spoon you are looking at only contains about .805 troy ounces of silver. .805 * $28.88 = $23.24.

 

i wil have to keep that in mind. thanks very much guys, happy i won the spoon though lol, on a second note, just saw 150 grams of .925 sell for 31 dollars ! wow. i wish i had to time to read this before it ended!

 

do you understand that sterling knives, the blade is not silver, and sterling candle holders are filled with wax or other non silver items.

 

Easily Confused

You'll need to pardon an old man who's missing something, and apparently is a little slow at this late hour of a long day. Why is it difficult to determine the silver weight of Sterling objects other than spoons and forks?

 

sterling knives, the blade is not silver, typically made of stainless steel and sterling candle holders, among other items are filled with wax or other non silver items. I have cut a candle holder apart and it was made of wax, coated in sterling silver. so if you weigh the whole knife only part of it is sterling.

 

Alot of the bidding goes on during the end of the auction so be prepared in case you get out bidded.

 

There are other sterling silver items that you have to watch out for too. I've seen scrap jewelry for sale by the gram where the pendants were stamped .925, but the chains/clasps weren't.

I'd say safely bidding on sterling silver items on FeeBay requires a certain level of experience above what is needed for bullion coins and bars. It's possible to overbid, or even get ripped off when buying coins on FeeBay, but its even easier with scrap silver.

 

With all due respect, sir, anyone who needs to ask an online forum if something is a "good deal" probably should not be buying at all, and especially if they are doing so with an eye towards profit. This is not meant to be insulting, but is intended as sound advice.

Beyond the issues/aspects mentioned by the other gentlemen, have you even asked if this B&M even buys sterling/silverware? Not all do and mostly because it can be more of a hassle than it's worth. Also, and even if assuming that the total silver content was 0.95toz at $24, what makes you think the dealer will buy or trade at a level which would leave you any profit?

 

I've purchased some very nice sterling souvenir spoons off eBay. The advantage there is that you can search for a theme or subject matter that's of interest to you, but a good deal (as in around the intrinsic value of the silver content) can be elusive. Spoons sold by your local coin or pawn shop (when they're not just scrapping them) are more hit or miss in terms of what may appeal to you, but in most cases the premium paid for the collectible or aethetic aspects tends to be minimal.

 

Life Is A Learning Process!!

Thanks for the enlightenment, as when I purchased Sterling ware from dealers in the past, they just would show me the markings indicating Sterling Silver, weigh the object, and calculate the price.

Oh Well, regardless, I still have some beautiful pieces, but they didn't sell me the spoons and forks. Just chalises and ornate bowls. LOL

Never too old to learn!!

Darn!!

 

bowls and coasters, tea sets, etc are usually fine. mainly knifes and candle holders are the culprits.

 

It may be your chalises and ornate bowls don't have any ballast in them. Candlestick holders and the kind of bowls that sit upon a tall and narrow base are the ones to watch out for.

A reputable dealer would not weigh an item that has ballast in it to charge you by the weight.

 

Thanks for the clarification which I hoped someone would post, as the Sterling Silver "art" pieces were so beautiful that I couldn't resist acquiring them from my friendly old urban "dealers" who were so kind to me. :thumb:

 

As he already stated in post #8, knives in a sterling silver set only contain silver in the handles. The blades are usually stainless steel. Candle holders can have non-silver materials filled inside of them.

 

You may also want to take into consideration that the dealer who you are wanting to trade with will want to make something on the trade . And as sterling goes for most of them it must be sent to a refiner & melted down & most of those refiners will pay around 90% of the sterlings melt value to the dealer. So its true value to a business may a bit less than you may think depending on who you are selling it to or trading it to.