Finding Silver to resell for scrap

[framing fowl]

Oh, I will also start to make a habit of watching the collectibles and jewelry categories on our local CL too so I can get a feel for what other people are buying and selling. I did notice a couple of wanted ads in the jewelry tonight. They were saying things along the lines of "Call me to look at your jewelry before your yardsale." and just simply "buying scrap silver".

As far as the flatware, if I did end up with some, I might try to find a couple of artists to sell it to that make jewelry and little things, similar to what MetalSmitten does. Working at an art gallery puts me in contact with a lot of artists so that would probably be my best bet there.

 

[k0xxx]

It sounds like you have a plan. In this rural area, I probably put too much time into my "treasure hunts" to make them actually worth it monetarily, but I have fun doing it and I make a little bit of profit (if I exclude the time involved). I do however, have a lot of fun and I get to meet a lot of nice people. In a more populated area it could actually be a money making endeavor.

The plated copper would probably be purchased by scrap yards also. Keep us updated with your progress and finds.

Oh, I had to look up what a tussie mussie was. It was a new one for me.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Good threat! Since I frequentth goodwill outle store, I often come across stuff that looks interesting. I have also found ta during the week there are lots o buyers who sel at felamarkets, garage sales and oline, but on the weekend ther are more regular shopers. so that is when I have been going, less fierce competition. Especially since I usually buy for myself and for a few other folks and not really for resale. But now I know hat to look for, when I do see an interesting gold or silver piece.

 

[old fashioned]

Oh, I will also start to make a habit of watching the collectibles and jewelry categories on our local CL too so I can get a feel for what other people are buying and selling. I did notice a couple of wanted ads in the jewelry tonight. They were saying things along the lines of "Call me to look at your jewelry before your yardsale." and just simply "buying scrap silver".

As far as the flatware, if I did end up with some, I might try to find a couple of artists to sell it to that make jewelry and little things, similar to what MetalSmitten does. Working at an art gallery puts me in contact with a lot of artists so that would probably be my best bet there.

If I were you, I wouldn't sell to anyone like that. They may be on the up & up, but I wouldn't trust it. What you can do to find buyers (it never hurts to have more than one) is to take your finds to jewelers or pawn shops or coin shops & just ask them what they are willing to pay. You don't have to sell to the first one so shop around to find the one that pays the best. Some items may be worth more because of resale value (antique candlesticks, jewelry, etc) than just scrap, especially if there are any precious stones & solid settings. So when you are shopping around for a buyer don't say anything about 'scrap price', just ask 'how much will you give me?' If you don't think it's a fair price, take your finds elsewhere. DH deals more in gold but sometimes finds silver, platinum or white gold and has a different buyer for each, so you may not find just one buyer for everything.

On the subject of diamonds, DH says 90% are SI (slightly included) which is to say 'they have black carbon spots' & the smaller the 'spot' the higher quality diamond. The spot should never be seen with the naked eye, if so it's very low quality & not worth it. Only 10% are flawless (no spot). Remember too, there are some very high quality CZ's too....so be careful.


Once you get into the buying & selling, the word will get out & you'll become 'known' and you'll make more contacts for both buying & selling. You may find that people will bring their stuff to you. If so, remember to pay a fair price yet leave yourself some profit room too.

When you're out looking at sales & don't see any jewelery, ask if they have any so you can look thru. I know DH has asked when he didn't see any out & the people have sometimes brought some out. DH says 'estate sales' are usually the best and try to get there early on the first day. Get to know the employees at thrift stores to find out when they will be putting out any new stuff so you can be the first to check it over cause you're probably NOT the only one around doing the same 'treasure hunting'.

 

[framing fowl]

If I were you, I wouldn't sell to anyone like that. They may be on the up & up, but I wouldn't trust it. What you can do to find buyers (it never hurts to have more than one) is to take your finds to jewelers or pawn shops or coin shops & just ask them what they are willing to pay. You don't have to sell to the first one so shop around to find the one that pays the best. Some items may be worth more because of resale value (antique candlesticks, jewelry, etc) than just scrap, especially if there are any precious stones & solid settings. So when you are shopping around for a buyer don't say anything about 'scrap price', just ask 'how much will you give me?' If you don't think it's a fair price, take your finds elsewhere. DH deals more in gold but sometimes finds silver, platinum or white gold and has a different buyer for each, so you may not find just one buyer for everything.

As far as the craigslist ads, I wasn't meaning I would sell to those people. I was rather thinking that I could put out a similar idea on "call me before your estate sale". Basically having people contact me rather than going out and hunting for stuff.

Thanks for clarifying on who to sell to and shopping around. The tip about not saying that I'm selling "scrap" makes a lot sense. Let them make the judgement on what they want to pay without tipping my hand so to speak.


As a side note, I'm not necessarily looking at scrap metals exclusively. My boss yet again cut my hours and I want to do something rather than get another part time job to fill in the income gap. I have a wide range of things that I have a pretty good idea on prices and have had really good success selling here locally on craigslist and on ebay so I thought I would just expand on that knowledge base. It's always been a hobby but now I'd like to get just a little bit sharper at it.

My overall strategy has been for the last couple of years to invest about 15 minutes every morning reading the free section, the farm and garden, housewares, and antiques section on CL. Then every weekend I browse the business section, tools, etc. So I've got fairly decent market knowledge in those areas. Now I am planning on attending one auction or estate tag sale per weekend, and then checking a couple of other auction sites that I buy stuff on. The rest of the weekend is for any interesting garage sales, cleaning everything up, listing it and getting it sold. I really have the best of both worlds here, living in a fairly large town with that sort of market and then 20 miles out of town, you're in the country.

 

[lighthawk]

Hoping someone can help... I have a pitcher by Reed and Barton it is numbered 2925 and marked "silver soldered". I have no Idea what that means or whether it has any value scrap or otherwise. I did a search on their website and came up with nothing.
I would assume that would mean a low grade silver plating but we all know the definition of "assume"

 

[k0xxx]

Hoping someone can help... I have a pitcher by Reed and Barton it is numbered 2925 and marked "silver soldered". I have no Idea what that means or whether it has any value scrap or otherwise. I did a search on their website and came up with nothing.
I would assume that would mean a low grade silver plating but we all know the definition of "assume"

My best guess (and it's only a guess) is that it is indeed silver plated. I have not yet seen any items marked "silver soldered" that were plated. I would "assume" that if the pitcher were solid silver that they would not have to mention the soldering, as it would match the rest of the piece. A lot of R&B items are marked with a four digit number and I believe that it corresponds to a particular pattern. That's the best that I can come up with without actually examining/testing the item. I wish that I could help.

 

[lighthawk]

Thanks Mark. The pitcher was my moms so it isn't going anywhere and it doesn't take much space in the safe. Perhaps I will stumble on further info down the road.

 

[framing fowl]

Do you all know about the website www.replacementsltd.com ? They buy silver, china, and crystal. If you click on the silver tab, it will bring up a list of silver manufacturers. Lighthawk, if you click on the letter R and then find Reed & Barton. It will bring up a list of patterns, you just have to find the number that corresponds with the pattern. If you want to sell to them, you just call them and within 10 minutes or so, they will e-mail you a form of what they would pay for your item. If you want to sell, the price is good for so many days and you just follow their packaging and shipping instructions.

I've looked at selling them some china I found at a garage sale a few weeks ago but they wanted too much $ for the set at the garage sale so I didn't end up buying it.

 

[lighthawk]

Thanks I will check it out. If only to satisfy my curiosity.