Silver Patterns that are a Gold Mine for Collectors and Sellers

Posted on December 22, 2021January 13, 2022 by AntiqueSilver

Have you inherited a set of the most valuable antique silverware and are wondering if it’s worth anything? Perhaps you’ve come across various sets of flatware at estate sales or thrift stores and wondered if you should purchase them to resell to a collector. Knowing some of the most valuable patterns and sets can be helpful if you’re thinking about selling your silver. Here are some of the patterns you might want to look for.

The Wallace Grand Baroque Pattern

One good example of a set of silver that is worth a nice amount of money is the Wallace Grand Baroque pattern. You may find a standard set of four pieces (fork, salad fork, teaspoon, and knife) of this pattern selling for several hundred dollars. Like most silver sets, there are additional pieces available such as soup spoons, butter knives, and cocktail forks. There are a number of different factors that will determine the overall price you can sell a set of this silver for.

Other Patterns to Look For

There are many other patterns you should look for if you want to make a nice profit by reselling silver. Here are a few of them:

Audubon by Tiffany – this pattern was produced during the 1950s. In addition to sterling silver, a gold-plated version of the Audubon pattern is also available.
Reed and Barton St. Frances – Reed and Barton began producing sterling silver sets in the 1800s. Their older sets are highly sought after, especially since the company went bankrupt in 2015.
Rose by Stieff – Stieff, now called Kirk-Stieff, produced a number of patterns. Their most famous is the Maryland or Stieff Rose pattern, a unique print that has been manufactured since 1892.
Cactus by George Jensen – this art Deco pattern was mainly produced during the 1920s and 30s.
Grand Victoria by Wallace – while not the pattern that made Wallace a true name in the silver industry, the Grand Victoria is still very popular among collectors.

What Makes a Set a Gold Mine?

How do you know if you’ve got a truly collectable set of silverware or if you have something that’s best used at your next family gathering? There are a number of things to take into account. A few pieces of Rose by Stieff may sell fairly well to someone who needs to complete their set, but overall, collectors generally want full sets. A set of Audubon by Tiffany that’s polished, unbent, and undamaged will, naturally, fetch a higher price than a set with rust and obvious heavy use.

Uncovering the Real Value of Your Parents’ Antique Kitchenware

Posted on November 5, 2021November 17, 2021 by AntiqueSilver

Hold up just a second before you go ditching that antique silver spoon collection your Mom handed down to you, or scrapping the antique kitchenware, you might want to do a quick search for “silver buyers near me”.

There’s a world of difference between silver buyers of antique silver and scrapping, pawning, or selling silver in a yard sale. Doing some research on the subject of Antique Silverware Buying & Appraisal is worth its weight in gold.

Antique Silver and Silver Tea Set Buyers

A fortune could be hidden in your parent’s (and even grandparent’s) kitchenware. Antique silver potentially has much more value than if you sell it by weight alone. Antique silverware buying and selling is big bucks when there’s a history behind the piece or pieces. Even the decorative artwork on your antique silver can boost the value. It’s best to consult a silver tea set buyer or antique silver buyer when you are in the market to sell.

Finding a Trustworthy Buyer of Antique Silver

Unfortunately, especially with the boom of online silver tea set buyers and antique silver buyers cannot all be trusted. Even selling to a local buyer can be risky. You’ll want to check out any potential buyer you plan to do business with.

Find out if the business is local, or if it’s online, be sure there’s a longstanding internet presence that’s not flighty. Look for verifiable references that aren’t just on the company’s own website or social site. Check for credentials and length of time in business too.

Why Trust Antique Silver Buyers?

Antique Silver Buyers is a name you can trust as a silver tea set buyer, antique silverware buyer, and buyer and appraiser of antique silver of most any kind. We’ve been in business for 25 years and have a myriad of happy customers that sing our praises. Many are repeat customers we’ve had for years.

Based in Florida, Antique Silver Buyers is dedicated to doing business face to face. We believe that the appraisal, selling, and buying of antique silver should be a personal encounter that can only be conducted properly when it’s done eye to eye. We want to meet you and make your experience an ultimate one.

When it comes to selling your antique silver, turn to a trusted buyer you can trust. Turn to Antique Silver Buyers.

Silver Markings : Demystifying the Hallmarks

Posted on July 9, 2021September 24, 2021 by AntiqueSilver

Your silver is worth money. But there’s so much more to it than that. Over the nearly 30 years that I’ve spent discovering fascinating new pieces, I’ve taken it upon myself to try and share this deep appreciation of not only the value of some items but the rarity, craftsmanship, history, and stunningly brilliant beauty of the collections people bring to me.

And if that isn’t of interest to you, you’ll be interested in knowing that by being able to identify these traits can help assure you that you get exactly what your silver is worth.

Today we’re going to talk about Silver Hallmarks. Just a drop in the bucket, since this is an entire specialty of knowledge, but an excellent foundation.

Related Blog – Selling Gold and Silver: 4 Rules for Dealing with Antique Buyers

Silver Hallmarks, Silver Markings:

Sterling Silver

Essentially every new silverware set, tea set, etc. you will come across is marked with a stamp called a silver hallmark. The purpose of a silver mark is to tell the buyer (or in this case, you) what the purity of the silver is. The most common markings for sterling silver are fairly easy to decipher:

– Sterling

– 925 or .925

This indicates a 92.5% silver purity. Silver is often blended with other metals for increased strength. You may also see lower percentages of silver, such as 900 or 800. This indicates a lower percentage of silver and is no longer considered ‘Sterling’.

Fine Silver and Silver Plate

Fine Silver, quite simply, is composed of 100% pure silver. Pound for pound this is the most valuable silver you can find. We’ll learn next time what can give ‘pound for pound’ a run for its money. However, for today we’ll keep things simple. Fine Silver can just as easily be identified with the markings such as Fine Silver or Pure Silver. Rogers sterling (often marked Wm Rogers – and also indicated ‘Sterling’) is actually pure silver. Whereas Rogers plated silver is not.

Be wary of items marked as Stainless, Triple Plate, IS, Silver, EPNS, and the like. These indicate that your items are made from stainless steel, electroplated, or are simply silver plated. While these may be beautiful items they are not all that valuable. You may simply want to keep them in your home for your own enjoyment.

Unique Markings

Here’s where things get interesting. Remember what I said in the beginning? There is so much more to Silver than it’s weight in… silver. You will not always come across a marking that is as simple to read as what I’ve outlined above. Markings from around the world vary in more ways than just the country it comes from.

There are literally thousands of these unique markings offering insight into:

– The age of a particular item
– Place of origin
– Rarity
– Manufacturer
– Significance

And so much more.

For a quick example, the image below is a silver marking from the Kirk firm, founded in America in 1815. Samuel Kirk introduced a unique type of repousse decoration that has become known as the Baltimore Style and as since become highly imitated. This marking indicates both the year, location, manufacturer, and historical significance of the piece.

I hope you found this all very informative and exciting! I look forward to sharing more of my appreciation and knowledge about the wonderful works of silver soon. We’ll discuss markings from all over the world and the difference in significance between them.

If you’re eager to discover the true value of your silver right away, I always encourage people to consult a respected expert or two. You can also contact me directly and I’d be happy to answer any of your questions.

Up for a little “Antiquing” During the Corona Virus Pandemic?

Posted on October 21, 2020November 21, 2023 by AntiqueSilver

It is unprecedented calamity on a global scale. It stated as a distant rumor of an outbreak in China in the middle of winter and then spread slowly at times and like wildfire at other time through the world. Novel COVID-19 (aka the Corona virus) is a serious and highly contagious respiratory illness that is already responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide. It has forced the mass shut-down of everything as we practice social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the pandemic. Now we are all working from home or just at home because we don’t currently have a job. It is a dark time and we all striving to find little rays of light in the darkness. Or maybe some normalcy that we can cling to for a little while. And, let’s be honest, along with being anxious, scared, and angry, we might also be bored.

It is an environment that has changed everything. There is no clearly defined end in sight yet. It has been a massive adjustment for everyone and every business. Most business have been sharply curtailed or even closed. Some essential businesses like grocery stores have to remain open. A lot of other businesses have had to focus as much as possible on doing business online. The antique business is among those. While the digital revolution has meant a huge increase in online antique appraisal and antique sales, that is not the tradition way of doing business for antique buyers and sellers. In this article we are going to explore the effect that the novel COVID-19 virus has had on the antique business and how you can spend some of your time while on lock-down “antiquing”.

Antique treasures in troubled times

An antique is a piece of the past that may be a hidden treasure or may be just a bit flotsam that has floated down the stream of time. When you look at an antique currently in your possession you may see it as a work or art that you want to display or wear. You may see it as a cherished connection to departed loved one. On the other hand, in spite of its beauty or its sentimental value, you may be asking how much it is worth. It is understandable if the issue is money and the value of your antique is at the forefront of your mind, particularly if the antique is something that is not to your taste but might be very much to someone else’s taste.

Here is the thing, right now a lot of us are stuck at home with time on our hands. It is also spring- a traditional time for “spring cleaning”. Think about that to do list you have had forever that includes cleaning the attic or the garage. Think of that antique you might have in a closet or jewelry box someplace because it doesn’t fit with décor of your home or go with your sense of style. This is actually an ideal time to do some spring cleaning around the house and sell the antiques you have been meaning get rid of. Also, many people currently are not sure when they will be working again and they are in need of immediate money. Potentially valuable antiques can be sold online for money quickly. On the other hand, if you are stuck at home and looking to buy some antiques you might find the antique jewelry, fine silver, or artwork of your dreams in just a few clicks!

“Antiquing” moves online”

When people think about “antiquing” they probably picture taking a drive to the country to browse at a quaint shop. They might picture selling an antique at a pawnshop in the city for fast cash. Some might think of a well-heeled, reputable auction house conducting an auction where people bid with paddles. Obviously, those traditional methods of buying and selling antiques is out. Antique buyers and sellers are already doing a brisk business online and now is time to join them!

At antiquesilver.org. we know how crucial an appraisal is to the process of selling your jewelry. We are among the leaders of online antique appraisers because of our staff of highly skilled appraisers. We have trusted, expert appraisers with the knowledge to accurately determine the highest price you can obtain for your antique silver. They have the technical knowledge necessary to evaluate the quality of your silver and the knowledge of the market necessary to set an accurate and fair value. They make it easy to get online appraisal by a specialist.

When you are ready to get an online antique appraisal by a specialist and sell online, get in touch with us. We are authorized buyers and sellers of antique silver. We are proud to be among the very best silver antique appraisers and sellers online. To get started, please send us a photo and a detailed description of your silver as well as any previous appraisals that have been done. We may also request that you mail your antique silver to us for appraisal. Along with appraisal, we can also help you find a buyer for your antique silver or help you find the antique silver that you have been looking for.

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