Sell sterling silver flatware
Sterling silver flatware and silverware sets, serving pieces and silver tea sets, sorted from silver plate and weighed by the piece while you watch.
What qualifies
- Sterling silver flatware and silverware, full sets or single pieces
- Sterling marked 925, STERLING or STER
- Silver tea sets and coffee services
- Trays, bowls and silver serving pieces
- Candlesticks and weighted hollowware
- Coin silver, marked COIN or PURE COIN
- British and continental hallmarked silver
- Monogrammed pieces
Sterling is 92.5% silver, and it is marked: 925, STERLING or STER on American and modern pieces, a lion passant among the hallmarks on British ones, and often .800 or .830 on continental European silver. Plate carries no such mark, and that difference is the whole ballgame — it is the first thing we check and the thing most people arrive uncertain about.
Grandmother’s canteen of silverware is very often plate. That is not a judgement on anybody’s family; it is simply what most mid-century flatware was, and we would rather say so plainly here than have you carry a heavy box in on a hope.
Where a set is solid, two things need establishing before it goes anywhere near a scale. The first is the pattern, because a complete service in a pattern collectors follow is worth more assembled than it is as metal, and melting it is a decision that cannot be walked back. The second is which pieces are solid throughout. Knives usually are not, and neither are most candlesticks — a weighted base is filled with pitch or plaster to stop it toppling, so what the scale reads and what the silver weighs are two different numbers. Anyone who weighs a candlestick gross and quotes you on it is either careless or counting on you not knowing.
We sort all of that on the counter, in front of you, before any offer is discussed. If the answer is that your set belongs with a matching service or a specialist rather than with us, that is what we will tell you.
How an offer is reached
- 1We separate sterling from plate first — this is the step that decides everything else
- 2We identify the pattern and maker, and check whether the set is worth more intact
- 3We weigh solid pieces by the piece, keeping knives and weighted bases separate
- 4We walk through how the offer was reached, piece by piece
- 5You accept or decline, with no fee either way — if you accept, you are paid the same day, in cash or by wire
We do not publish our own prices, rates or percentages. They move with the metal markets through the day, and any figure printed here would be wrong by the time you read it.
Common questions
- Are silver-plated items worth anything?
- Almost never, and this is the single most common disappointment in this category. Plated pieces carry a microscopically thin layer of silver over a base metal, and recovering it costs more than it returns. Marks like EPNS, A1, triple plate or silver on copper all indicate plate. We will tell you which you have before anything else happens, and there is no charge for being told.
- Should I polish anything first?
- No. Polishing removes a little silver every time, and on antique silver it can take the crispness off a hallmark or soften the detail on a repoussé pattern. Tarnish is not a problem for us. Bring it as it is.
- Do monograms reduce what a piece is worth?
- Not for metal content — a monogrammed fork weighs what it weighs. A monogram can reduce what a complete set is worth to a collector who wants it unmarked, which is one more reason to establish whether a set is worth more intact before it is weighed.
- Why do you weigh knives separately?
- Because most sterling knives are not solid sterling. The handle is usually a hollow sterling shell filled with pitch or cement, and the blade is typically stainless. Weighing them with the rest of a set would overstate the silver and produce an offer we could not honour, so they are handled on their own.
- Is my sterling silver flatware set worth more as a set than as metal?
- Sometimes. Certain patterns have a following, and a complete or near-complete service in a sought-after pattern can be worth considerably more intact than melted. We check the pattern before anything is weighed, every time.
- What do I need to bring?
- Government-issued photo ID, and the items themselves. New Jersey requires identification for precious metals transactions and we cannot complete a purchase without it.
Available at
Book an appraisal
No obligation, and no fee if you decide not to sell. Bring photo ID to any appointment — New Jersey requires it.