Sterling scrap silver?

anyone buy sterling scrap silver out there? I've gotten into bullion investing and was thinking of buying some scrap silver from estate sales. Once I went to an estate sale and saw a sterling ring for a little under melt value. Anyone have any positive results from this?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

"Close to melt" for junk silver (with the exception of coinage) means you will be losing from the perspective of bullion investing. You will want to be looking at numbers like 30% or more.

 

Ever find some good junk silver at an Estate sale?

 

I find silver often at garage sales. Gotta get up early because other people do it as well.. Don't be afraid to ask if they have any old silver or gold jewelry.

I have found almost $200 worth of gold this year for a couple bucks, and probably at least $400 worth of sterling for $20ish

 

Yes, there is plenty of junk silver at estate sales. Problem is, is everyone's there to buy too so your competition is large. It's like all estate sales, sometimes you win and get a bunch of good buys and sometimes you leave thinking it will be the last one you attend.

 

Hi there-

Don't overlook thrift stores as well. Sometimes you can find sterling jewelry or flatware well under spot there too. Sometimes....

wags

 

I've been buying sterling since 2010 and am having it melted into bullion bars. I try to buy it at .50 per gram or less. I've been burnt a couple of times, but have bought plenty of great bargains too. I don't go looking all the time, I just stop at thrift stores and antique stores. If its not marked sterling or .925 I don't buy, but I have bought .925 that wasn't sterling. I bought 11 knives at 250 grams still in the leather case that I haven't talked myself into melting yet. I enjoy the hunt and have accumulated some nice buttons and bars.

 

I recently started buying sterling silver jewelery as well, Been getting for good prices from people selling on the local facebook buy and sell groups. Have gathered over 8oz so far. Some pieces are keepers while others are just junk but none the less worth buying.

 

How do you have it turned into bars?
And what does that cost you?

 

Im sure you can find someone with a smelter, You can buy them on ebay for like $500+. As far as cost to have them done I have no clue. Curious myself.

 

I try to buy at 50 cents per gram. I get my sterling melted by Walkersilver.com. He charges 12%. His buttons and bars bring a nice premium on eBay. 2 ounces sold recently for $87. I pay to mail it, he mails it back. I have paid .80 cents per gram recently, but I still consider it an investment. If I buy an ounce of sterling for 20 or less, it leaves room for profit. His buttons and bars a top quality. Check out his website. Walkersilver.com. I found it by googling 2 years ago and have been very pleased with the service and quality

 

I went to that site Walkersilver.com, Was very interested but noticed they only melt it down to make .925 sterling Bars and Buttons. Wonder if there is someone who will smelt it down to make .999 pure bars.

 

Are you talking about melting .999 into bars, or refining .925 to .999? If the latter, yeah, they're called "refineries"...

 

Yeah the second one. Google searched it and found the refineries. Haven't completey searched them for the best price though.

 

There are some good videos on youtube about smelting silver. It's not hard to do as the melting point isn't that high and the possibilities are that you can produce your own custom bars for low cost. There is a big backyard hobby related to smelting in general that includes everything from making your own furnace to how to make your own metal lathe from scratch. Instructables.com is another good place to go.

Of course you want to use some common sense. Carelessness can lead to your house being burned down or even death.

 

You will always get more for marked scrap than for a melted blob of metal. Unless you are doing it for kicks, don't even think about it!

 

That's why when you melt it down and pour it into a mold you stamp it. I watched them do this on of those storage buying shows, The one with the skinny guy and large guy.They then turned around and sold it.

 

Shows some junk silver picked up at various places:
[video=youtube;PlMhiccTVFU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlMhiccTVFU[/video]

Shows the end result and counting up the $s.
[video=youtube;yXORjauTzIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXORjauTzIA[/video]


I think the "blob" would be easier to sell than all those junk pieces of silver that he dumped into the heater.

 

Heh. If it's got numbers stamped on it, it must be good!

I'm gonna go buy a bunch of scrap aluminum and a ".925" punch.

 

I buy scrap for a living and I would never buy a 'home melted' bar or blob except at a huge discount. doesn't take a master counterfeiter to cast a hollow bar and fill the inside with whatever you have lying around (copper, lead, rocks, nickels, etc.) then cap it with sterling. tests fine, unless you literaly cut it into pieces.