how to for silver disposal

September 13, 2010 7:16 AM

Hi MeFi's; my boss has asked me how he can best dispose of some silver pieces that he has stored in his attic. he said that it is mostly tarnished and that he doesn't want the bother of cleaning it up to auction it, a la Ebay... he actually is considering how to sell for the scrap value. any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.
posted by rxbert to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

How pure is the silver? If it's relatively high-test stuff, he could technically haul it in to a "cash for gold" place - they do trade in other precious metals as well.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:21 AM on September 13, 2010

Silver is only $20 per ounce, compared to gold at $1247 per ounce, so it's a LOT less precious.
posted by smackfu at 7:32 AM on September 13, 2010

If it's silverWARE he can sell it to replacements.com. They'll clean it up and resell it for a significant profit (for them). But the prices they offer are fairly decent, especially for the minimal amount of work involved. (I had a couple of orphaned pieces of china.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:35 AM on September 13, 2010

Is it silver plate or sterling? Silverplate is not worth much, but sterling is worth a lot more, often worth more as pieces rather than scrap. In addition to Replacements, Rocky's (formerly Rocky and Brenda's) and Angevine's tend to specialize more in silver. Depending on what he has, an appraisal might be worthwhile before doing anything. My wife has a lot of silver handed down through her family that has been appraised at hundreds or thousands of dollars, so your boss ought to find out what he has before doing anything else.

He also might want to reconsider his view on cleaning it. If indeed it is only tarnished, a quick soak in hot water and baking soda, laying on top of some aluminum foil may be all it needs.
posted by TedW at 7:53 AM on September 13, 2010

When I had some old china and silverplate to get rid of, a local company that does estate sales took it off my hands. They would either pay me about 50% of what they could get for it up front, or include it in an estate sale and then pay me 70% of what they got for it. It was easy, I didn't have to polish anything, and it worked out well.
posted by not that girl at 9:42 AM on September 13, 2010

Ebay for "junk silver". People buy it in almost any condition.

That should be a price floor for ya, and it's just a buck or so less than spot. And silver is $20.14/oz as of writing this.

Just be sure it's stamped with sterling or better marks, and weigh it accurately.
posted by cschneid at 9:50 AM on September 13, 2010

It might be worthwhile to find out how old it is. Old and fine or rare pieces are worth a lot more than you'd think. If he's got some Tiffany pieces in the lot, it'd be a shame to sell them for melting down. If you are in or near a city suggest that an auction house silver expert look at it and let him know what he should do with it.
posted by Anitanola at 7:06 PM on September 14, 2010