Silver Investment Teapot
Recently, my sister asked about a few boxes of silver she had lying around her garage. We’re not talking bullion investment silver, we’re talking old pieces of dinnerware and ornamental pieces. She was wondering what to do with it?
In particular, she had a teapot and a small pot for coffee and tea cream just sitting around taking up space in her dining room. I have seen these items, but it has been some months since I’ve been in her house. I do not have any expertise in antiques whatsoever, but I did let her know that the silver content in the items probably made them worthwhile to take to a dealer.
While she was thinking these items might be good for a garage sale, I was thinking they might be worth more than anything else she would sell.
With a digital postal scale, she was able to weigh the items and tell me they totaled about 20 ounces. Now ounces are not quite the same as troy ounces, so the conversion gave us an amount of about 18.2 troy ounces.
Of course, these items were not .999 pure silver, but the Sterling variety that weighs in at .925 percent silver. So the actual amount of silver in the items is about 18.2 x .925 = 16.8 troy ounces.
Next, if we take the price of silver, about $9.30/troy ounce as of this writing, the silver value of the items comes to $9.30 x 16.8 = $156 and change. Not bad for a teapot that was just lying around the house. This would not be my ideal choice for investment silver, but it’s not the worst either.
But where would she go if she actually wanted to trade the teapot for $156 cash? She has a couple of options.
First, I advised her to have an antiques dealer or auctioneer take a look at the items. If the company name were stamped on the items, or if it included other identifiable marks, she could be in for an “Antiques Roadshow” moment.
Next, I suggested a coin shop or scrap metal company. It’s unlikely she would get the full value for the silver, but she could expect about 80% of the value and have the cash in hand.
Finally, I suggested eBay. The auction site is a great resource to unload pieces such as this. She would want to take sharp, detailed pictures of the pieces, including any print that appears on the items, especially relating to the silver such as “Sterling Silver” or “.925 Silver” or the manufacturer’s name or logo. In this way, she would be attracting both the silver investment market on eBay, as well as the collector’s market.
There are other places to send your silver, or gold, or other jewelry and precious metals. We see them everyday advertised on television and magazines. There is a billboard about 500 feet from my house proclaiming, “Send your precious metals. Top dollar paid. We pay shipping.”
These are bad choices because they are spending a ton of money on advertising and this money is made up in the low prices they offer for your metal. If you choose the local dealers or eBay, you will most likely get a very good deal with very little effort. And if you check with an auctioneer or antique shop, who knows? Maybe you have a true treasure.
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