If you own some damaged jewelry, old coinage, silverware or other piece of scrap silver then you may be surprised at how easy it is to get real cash in hand for it. The exact price you’ll receive for selling your unwanted silver is dependent on many factors but it’s easy to find out the current price by visiting financial websites. For the most current prices the best place to look is Kitco. Silver doesn’t fetch anywhere near the price of gold but quantity adds up quickly, I have paid anywhere from $300 to $1300 for a single set of sterling silverware.
Before you start looking to sell silver it helps to know a bit about the history of the market and how quickly things can change. For example, in the 1980s the price of silver soared and there was a huge rush to sell any item of silver people could get your hands on. However, just as the price of gold scrap fluctuates so does the price of silver, it can drop just as quickly as it rises and overnight the silver prices plummeted due to a financial deal gone wrong. Today, the market for selling silver is much more stable but you still need to be aware that the price fluctuates almost continuously.
Whether you’re selling or buying silver the unit of measurement is the Troy ounce. When selling silver you need to know exactly how much it weighs so that you can get an accurate price from the dealer. Although the price of silver is considerably less than gold it has made some impressive increases over the last 2 years so it will be easy to sell because the price is only dependent on the purity of the silver and the weight – there’s no craftsmanship or jewels involved. On the other hand, if you’re selling silver jewelry you can often get a much higher price.
The following list will provide you with a good idea of what is considered scrap silver and what a buyer will purchase from you, it consists of a wide variety of items, most of which contain a minimum of 80% actual silver content such as:
- Jewelry (should have one of the following hallmarks; Ster, Sterling, Stg, 800 or 925)
- Older coinage (usually pre 1968 in Canada and the U.S.)
- Sterling Silverware
- Silver Coins & Bars
- Silver Electrical Contacts
- Dental scrap can contain silver
- Dental amalgam (some can contain mercury so don’t attempt to melt it yourself)
- Silver from photo developing, xrays and paper
When selling silver you should always make sure that you visit a reputable dealer that you know can be trusted. Unless you have specialist knowledge in the field of jewellery and metal it can be difficult to know the price of a particular item so you need to know that the information the dealer is telling you is correct. Even so, there are certain things you can do to ensure you get the best possible deal. For example, before you visit a dealer you should always check the current spot price of silver so you know roughly how much you can expect, remember you won’t get the whole spot price as dealers need to make a profit as well. For example if you were to buy silver, as in bullion bars, you could expect to pay spot price plus a bar charge, at today’s prices for each ounce you purchase you can expect to pay an additional $1-2 per ounce if buying in 100 oz bars, if you’re buying smaller bars the bar charge will be a little higher. When you’re selling your silver bars check with different dealers, you’ll find most will pay anywhere from 90 to 95% of spot price. If you’d like more indepth tips on where to sell silver this is a good place to start.
While you may not be able to get exactly this price – the dealer needs to make money selling it on – you should at least get close to it. Buying and selling scrap silver can be a profitable venture but silver is a funny thing, when I started out I made more mistakes and lost more more with silver than with anything else. Now my golden rule is that if it does not have a hallmark that I recognize I do not buy it period, sellers will always swear up and down that they know for certain it is real silver but you are the expert and the second rule to follow is when in doubt do nowt, which means if you’re not sure do nothing.