How is sterling silver flatware priced?

Sterling is 92.5% silver, so the price is the weight on the scale times .925 times the day's silver spot per gram, at the counter's stated buy rate for sterling. A full service for eight is weighed as a set; the number is on the screen before you decide.

How do I know whether a piece is sterling?

American sterling is usually marked 'sterling' or '925'; older and foreign pieces carry hallmarks that say the same thing in their own way. The mark is a claim; the test at the counter is the fact, and it takes seconds.

Why are knife handles and candlesticks priced differently?

Because they are weighted: a sterling shell over a filled core, with steel blades in the knives. Only the silver is paid for, so those pieces are set aside and priced on their actual silver content rather than their weight on the scale.

Do you buy silver bars and rounds?

Yes — .999 rounds and bars from any recognized mint or refiner, weighed and verified in front of you and priced off spot. Silver coins with a face value are a different thing, and worth more as coins; see the coins page.

What about silver jewelry?

Sterling chains, bracelets, rings and bangles are tested and weighed like any other silver. Signed or designer pieces are looked at as what they are first, because some are worth more intact than as metal — and you are told which.

No. One bracelet gets the same test and the same price per gram as a full canteen of flatware. Bring what you have.

Sell · silver & sterling

Silver is weighed, not guessed at.

The flatware nobody polishes, the tea service in the sideboard, the bangles from a jewelry box, the rounds a relative put away — silver crosses the counter in Madison Heights by the pound as often as by the piece. Each piece is tested for what it is, sorted by purity, weighed where you can see the scale, and priced off the day's silver spot at a stated buy rate. Nothing is deducted afterwards.

Silver coins — 90% U.S. dimes, quarters and halves, silver Eagles and Maple Leafs — are worth more as coins than as metal and are priced that way on the coins page. This page is everything else.

Put it on a kitchen scale and the estimator will give you a range before you get in the car — sterling, coin silver and fine silver are all on the list.

Get a ballpark

Three purities, one scale

Sterling, coin silver, fine — each priced on what it actually is.

Purity is the first number and it is tested, not read off the bottom. Sterling is .925, coin silver .900, fine silver .999 — and the same tray can hold all three. Each purity is weighed on its own, so a fine silver round is never averaged down into a set of sterling teaspoons.

Weight is the second number, in grams and troy ounces on a calibrated scale on your side of the counter. Spot is the third — the live silver board — and the stated buy rate is the fourth. Multiply them and that is the offer. The estimator on the sell page runs the same arithmetic, so you can check it before you drive.

Sterling (.925) — flatware, holloware, serving pieces, jewelry
Coin silver (.900) — older American holloware and spoons
Fine silver (.999) — rounds, bars, and some bullion jewelry
Weighted pieces — candlesticks, knife handles, compotes — priced on their silver content
Signed and designer pieces — looked at as what they are before anything is weighed

The math

A canteen of sterling, worked out.

A service for twelve sorts into three piles at the counter: the solid pieces, weighed together; the weighted pieces, priced on their silver content; and anything with a maker's name worth checking before it is treated as metal. You watch each pile go on the scale and see each number before it is added up.

How every piece is tested and priced is on the standards page. Not sure whether a piece is silver at all? Bring it — the test is faster than guessing, and there is no charge for it.

Worked example

Tested purity: sterling · 92.5%
Weight: 1,240 g (knives set aside)
Silver spot, per gram: today's board ÷ 31.1
Buy rate: stated share of melt
Offer: the product of the four

The knives are weighed separately for the sterling in their handles.

Also across the counter

Coins, estates, scrap gold, and the private table.

Silver comes in from

Oakland County

Macomb County

Straight answers

Questions people ask before they drive over

How is sterling silver flatware priced?: Sterling is 92.5% silver, so the price is the weight on the scale times .925 times the day's silver spot per gram, at the counter's stated buy rate for sterling. A full service for eight is weighed as a set; the number is on the screen before you decide.
How do I know whether a piece is sterling?: American sterling is usually marked 'sterling' or '925'; older and foreign pieces carry hallmarks that say the same thing in their own way. The mark is a claim; the test at the counter is the fact, and it takes seconds.
Why are knife handles and candlesticks priced differently?: Because they are weighted: a sterling shell over a filled core, with steel blades in the knives. Only the silver is paid for, so those pieces are set aside and priced on their actual silver content rather than their weight on the scale.
Do you buy silver bars and rounds?: Yes — .999 rounds and bars from any recognized mint or refiner, weighed and verified in front of you and priced off spot. Silver coins with a face value are a different thing, and worth more as coins; see the coins page.
What about silver jewelry?: Sterling chains, bracelets, rings and bangles are tested and weighed like any other silver. Signed or designer pieces are looked at as what they are first, because some are worth more intact than as metal — and you are told which.
Is there a minimum?: No. One bracelet gets the same test and the same price per gram as a full canteen of flatware. Bring what you have.