Interesting article about silver and reselling sterling silverware

Keep it or sell it? Deciding what to do with the family silver

From the San Jose Mercury News, July 7, 2022:

There's no right and wrong here, but if you, too, have inherited the family silver, you should know what you have and what it's worth. Just don't base "worth" on what the silver you own would cost new today - or even used.

"Although new sterling flatware costs around $1,000 a place setting, you can barely give it away used," said Sandy Bourbonnais, owner of Silver Superstore, a Seattle-based online and brick-and-mortar store, which she and her husband opened 23 years ago.

Thus, many sell their silver for its melt value instead. I took my silver chest to Orlando Estate Buyer in Winter Park, Fla., where owner Daniel Montesi weighed it in troy ounces and, based on that day's silver price, offered to buy it for $1,300, one-tenth what it would cost new and less than half of what it would cost used.

Meanwhile, silver preservationists, like Martin Biro, part owner of San Francisco's Biro & Sons Silversmiths, says, "To us, melting sterling silver is like burning books or art."

Here is the whole article which may ask for a subscription:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/07/keep-it-or-sell-it-deciding-what-to-do-with-the-family-silver

 

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Good info, I see it all the time, an estate sale that offers sterling silver and it sits there like the plague. It usually is a very tarnished ugly design and the family wants 5K for the whole set. They are always going to be disappointed when it doesn't sell. I like some of the old designs but most I see are very gawdy and old fashion looking.

 

I sell sterling silver in my antique shop and I do fairly well with it. Not my main stay of course but so do a decent enough not to complain business.

 

Why is used SS worth closer to melt than replacement value ?

 

Seems like the days of having a formal dining room with the "good china" are mostly gone, hence little demand for it. But maybe that's still going strong in certain segments of the country and I'm not aware.