Greetings SME's, Many many years ago, my father bought a couple of silver balls from a jeweler who had melted his scrap, or maybe melted down some circulation coins, fearing a repeat of a government prohibition on the ownership of silver like they did with gold back in 1933. Dad bought these when I was a kid, probably back around 1965 or so. They sat in a fish tank we owned for many many years. These WERE tarnished a dark grey / black until, my wife gave them to a little old lady who lived across the street. Her son it seemed, is a "coin dealer" who sets up at mall shows across the south east. "Coin dealer" my butt, this guy is a retired bus driver who needed something to get him out of the house and out of his wife's hair. But I digress. This little old lady thought it would be good to "clean these up" before showing them to her son. I never got to hear if the son actually saw these or not because I took them back as soon as I heard that she "cleaned them." Anyway, my question: how would a general guy go about getting a determination of the metallic content of these balls, and what should I expect to have to pay for this information? Photo evidence of said balls . . . . . . I included an orange next to them to give a size perspective. A 10 ounce CMI silver bar can be seen in the background as well. I was able to weigh them. Each ball weighs around 650 grams. (649.4g for one, 650.2g for the other). I am thinking with current silver prices, these might be worth looking into. Heck, being jewelers melt, might they have some signficant gold in them as well? I've got no idea what to do with these, but I am looking to downsize our holdings in my numismatic items over the next few months. All advice will be greatly appreciated. Z A few other silver items with the balls.
I've heard of brass balls, but you have silver balls!!! Since this is just melt value, any reasonably large coin dealer should be able to help you...XRF gun, etc. Let us know!
I would not expect any gold. A jeweler of all people would know the value of gold and not mix any in with silver. Unless you wanted to hang onto them, a smelter is who would be interested in them. Most stackers would be uncomfortable not having any sign of who cast these and what they contain.
I was thinking they might contain a smidgen of gold as a finction of the time period, and what I knew about this jeweler. Small town, mid 1960's, did a lot of repairs, bits and scraps might have gotten mixed in . . . . . My biggest fears in this is, who do you trust . . . . ? I thought someone might have knowledge or have needed to evaluate / assay something in the past. Eternal thanks for all assistance. Z
I remember a glassblower at the University of Kentucky who would keep all the little platinum stubs he took out of glassware and fused them into a small ball. I remember at the time I weighed them for him and was surprised at how much a little lump of metal was worth!
Silver balls...silver balls...it's Christmas time in the city....hey, if nothing else, you could make decorations out of them....Seriously, why not acid test them as you would a questionable silver coin?
Have you considered contacting one of the colleges or universities in Georgia that have studies in geology? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Georgia_(U.S._state)
Several years back I came within a hairs breath of buying a 100 ounce bar. Same deal. It was a jeweler that was fixing a necklace for my wife. Silver was in the $15.00 range back then. I finally determined that I would have to drill a core out of the thing to know it was in fact 100 ounces of silver. So I passed. Even if I had an XRF gun, I don’t have the metallurgical background to trust what I was reading..... But I would bet a smelter would have the equipment and know how if selling is your goal.
I agree. XFR would only deal with surface. I would be satisfied if a smelter did a good SG and XFR on it. Gold or PT? I would want it drilled. Too much money on the line for me otherwise.
As a silversmith I can tell you that 95% of the stuff we're working with is .925 or sterling silver. There are some things that are .999 or fine, but not many, usually bezel wire or very thin items. There are also solders and those are usually in the 55 to 70% silver range, but make up very little of the scrap. My guess is it would be sterling or very close to sterling
I was thinking it might even be 90%, coin silver. I'm just not sure where to find a smelter. Would they deal with a quantity this small? What should I expect to pay for some kind of certification of the alloy? These are unfamiliar waters to me. Z
I've never had anything refined, but with this run up in metal it might be time for me to get rid of my scraps. For small quantities like that you might consider trying Market Harmony in Pa.
Just take it to your LCS or jeweler and have them scan it for you. I'm not sure about the thickness factor with an XRF scanner but the owner should know how deep they scan. My LCS charges $5 a test. good luck!
