Selling Sterling Silver From an Estate: How to Sort Flatware and Hollowware, Read the Marks, and Pick the Right Buyer

Don't Polish, Sort or Scrap Anything Yet

The first rule with estate silver is the same as with jewelry and collectibles: leave it together until someone who handles silver has seen it. Tarnish doesn't hurt value much, and heavy polishing or dipping can wear away detail on older pieces. Sorting by eye is unreliable, because sterling and silverplate can look the same. And scrapping is irreversible. A set that sells as flatware to someone who wants that pattern can be worth more than the same set sold for its silver content, and once it has gone to a refiner that option is gone. Before the estate sale company's walkthrough, do three things only: gather silver from around the house into one secure place, set aside any pieces the family wants to keep, and keep chests, boxes and any paperwork (receipts, appraisals, insurance riders) with the pieces they came with.

Reading the Marks: Sterling, Coin and Continental Silver

In the United States, the word sterling has a legal meaning. Under the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act, 15 U.S.C. 296, an article can't be marked 'sterling' or 'sterling silver' unless it contains 925 parts per thousand pure silver, and it can't be marked 'coin' or 'coin silver' unless it contains 900 parts per thousand, with a small tolerance. A separate section, 15 U.S.C. 297, bars plated articles from being stamped 'sterling' or 'coin' at all. Marks you are likely to find on solid silver include:

• 'Sterling', 'Sterling 925' or '925', usually on the back of a flatware handle or the underside of a hollowware piece, often with the maker's name or trademark
• 'Coin', 'Pure Coin' or similar on older American pieces, typically from the 19th century, indicating 900 silver
• British hallmarks: a small set of stamped symbols, including a lion passant for sterling, plus marks for the assay office, date letter and maker
• Numbers such as '800' or '830' on many continental European pieces, which indicate silver content in parts per thousand but are below the sterling standard
• Maker marks and pattern names, which matter for pattern value even when the metal content is the same

Silverplate Marks That Fool People

Silverplate is a base metal, usually copper, brass or nickel silver, with a thin coat of silver on the surface. It was made in huge quantities and can carry famous names, which is why it's so often mistaken for sterling. Marks that point to plate rather than solid silver include:

• 'EP' (electroplate), 'EPNS' (electroplated nickel silver) or 'EPBM' (electroplated Britannia metal)
• 'Silverplate', 'Silver on copper', 'Triple plate', 'Quadruple plate' or 'A1', which describe the plating, not solid silver
• Brand names long associated with plated flatware, such as '1847 Rogers Bros.' or Oneida's 'Community' line. These can still sell to people who use or collect the pattern, but they don't carry sterling's metal value
• 'Nickel silver' or 'German silver', which are alloys that contain no silver at all despite the name
• Wear spots where a different-colored metal shows through on high points or edges, a common sign of plating

Weighted and Hollow-Handled Pieces

Two kinds of sterling pieces are often valued wrongly by people who weigh them on a kitchen scale. Weighted pieces, especially candlesticks, compotes, candy dishes and some salt and pepper shakers, are made from thin sterling filled with pitch, plaster or another filler and often have a felt or metal base plate. They may be marked 'Weighted' or 'Reinforced'. The silver in them is a small fraction of what they weigh. Hollow-handled flatware, mostly knives and some serving pieces, has a sterling handle around a filler, with a stainless steel blade. A dealer will not pay for the steel blade or the filler as silver. For melt purposes, these pieces are usually valued for their estimated silver content only, and for sale purposes they may do better as usable pieces than as scrap.

Melt Value vs. Pattern Value

Sterling has two possible values and an honest buyer should be able to tell you which one they are paying for. Melt value is what a refiner or scrap buyer will pay for the silver content, based on the day's silver spot price, the weight of actual silver, and the buyer's margin. It's a floor that moves with the metals market. Pattern or collector value is what someone who wants to use, complete or collect that specific pattern or maker will pay. Sterling flatware in a sought-after pattern, signed pieces by well-known makers and silversmiths, and good examples of particular periods can sell well above melt. A very common pattern with heavy wear or monograms may not. Matching services such as Replacements, Ltd. sell individual pieces of discontinued patterns and also buy some, which tells you there's a market for pieces as pieces. Without seeing the pieces, nobody can tell you which number is higher for your set, and no honest guide will quote you a price per piece.

Where Estate Silver Usually Sells

• Estate sale: good for usable sterling flatware sets, serving pieces, everyday silverplate and smaller hollowware, sold to buyers who want to use them. Companies typically display silver in a locked case or near the checkout and price it with the metals market in mind
• Auction house: worth considering for signed or designer pieces, important makers, large tea and coffee services, and anything an appraiser flags as collectible. See our estate sale vs. auction house guide
• Matching service or specialist dealer: for large flatware sets in recognized patterns, a pattern specialist may offer more than melt. Ask for a written offer by piece or by set
• Refiner or precious-metals buyer: the realistic route for damaged, heavily worn or unsellable sterling, and the benchmark against which other offers can be judged
• Donation: plated pieces with little resale value often go here after the sale. Sterling rarely should

Monograms, Damage and Missing Pieces

Engraved monograms are common on wedding silver and usually make pieces less attractive to buyers who want to use them, though some collectors don't mind older monograms. Removing a monogram removes metal and can leave a visible thin spot, so don't have it done before selling. Bent tines, worn bowls, dents in hollowware, loose handles and replaced knife blades all affect pattern value. A set missing a few place settings can still sell well to a buyer completing their own, which is another reason not to break up a set without advice. If any pieces are going to family members, decide that before the company prices the set; our guide to dividing heirlooms covers how families usually do it.

Protecting Silver During the Cleanout

• Inventory silver early: count flatware by piece type and photograph hollowware, including the marks
• Keep it out of sight and locked up if the house will be empty, being shown to agents or accessed by contractors
• Ask the estate sale company how it secures silver during the sale and overnight, and whether it's covered by their insurance
• Check drawers, sideboards, closets and attics for stray pieces: silver often turns up wrapped in cloth or stored in boxes away from the main set
• Be cautious about unsolicited 'we buy silver' offers made to the family before the sale. Get the company's view or an independent opinion first

How a Dealer Tests Silver

If marks are missing or worn, dealers and refiners test rather than guess. A magnet test only rules things out: silver isn't magnetic, but neither is brass, copper or nickel silver, so a piece that doesn't stick to a magnet isn't proven to be silver. Acid testing on an inconspicuous spot and handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers are the common ways a professional confirms silver content. If a buyer can't explain how they determined that an unmarked piece is or isn't sterling, that's worth asking about before you accept a price.

Questions to Ask an Estate Sale Company About Silver

• Do you sell sterling at your sales, and how do you price it relative to the silver market?
• Will you sell flatware as sets, by place setting or by the piece?
• Which pieces would you send to an auction house or specialist instead, and do you have relationships with them?
• How do you secure silver during the sale and overnight?
• What happens to unsold sterling: do you return it, buy it or route it to a refiner, and at what terms?
• Is your commission the same on silver as on everything else? Our contract checklist covers the rest