Are you among the many who have been captivated by the allure of weighted silver? Perhaps you've inherited a set of candelabras that seem to promise a treasure trove of precious metal, or maybe you're considering recycling your silverware for some extra cash. Whatever your situation, it's essential to understand the reality behind weighted silver and its value.

It’s been a long while since we wrote an advisory about investing in gold-plated tableware. So . . . why should we write about it again? The simple reason is that the price of gold is high now. . . and that means this is a good time to think again about investing in gold-plated knives, forks, and spoons. 

Thanksgiving is a holiday when people suddenly rediscover a lot of half-forgotten items that are made of sterling silver. You could pull out those items, give them a quick look, and then stick them back in cupboards until next year, but you could also set them aside and recycle them. So keep your eyes open and be on the lookout for silver items that you can recycle. The more items you can set aside the more money you can net from recycling them to reclaim the silver they contain.

Steel is an inexpensive metal. As you know, it isn’t classified as a precious metal.

So why are there antique items out there that contain both steel and silver? The answer to that question is this . . .

We recently overheard a friend say, “I attended a wedding reception at a catering facility last week and, for the first time in my life, I used gold-plated flatware. Wow, that stuff must have been worth a fortune.”

Those gold-plated forks, knives and spoons were doing exactly what the catering hall wanted them to do, which was to add a luxurious flourish to the dining experience. Gold conveys a very exciting sense of luxury, just as it has for thousands of years.

Gold-plated and gold-covered items look beautiful - and they look expensive. But even though many collectible items have a beautiful surface of genuine gold, some contain only a tiny amount of the precious metal. Over the centuries, tiny amounts of gold have been beaten thin and used to decorate all kinds of items, even buildings.

A century ago when sterling silver was a relatively cheap metal, it was used much more extensively than it is today to make all kinds of items that were used by people every day. Most every home had silver, or silver-plated flatware, salt and pepper shakers, candlesticks and candelabras, serving plates and dishes, barware and other items for daily use.

Why would anybody bother to counterfeit sterling silver? After all, silver sells for lower prices than any other precious metal. Why would anybody take the trouble to counterfeit it? The simple answer is that counterfeiters have learned to take cheap, silver-plated tableware, stamp them so they look like they were made by prestigious manufacturers, then sell them to collectors for high prices. In other words, they are artificially inflating the collectible value, not the metallic value. 

Let’s say that in your hunting for valuable items made of precious metals, you come across something made of “Argentium.” It could be a bracelet or other piece of jewelry in its original box with paperwork that says it’s made of Argentium. Or maybe a salesman at a jewelry store or estate sale winks at you and says, “This piece is extra valuable because it’s better than sterling... it’s Argentium!” It’s bright and white and shiny like silver... but what is it?

When you consider those traits side by side – beauty, softness and a tendency to tarnish – it explains why silver has often been used to fashion handles for a variety of objects that you should be on the lookout for when you go hunting for precious metals in house sales, antique stores or estate sales. You will only rarely find knives with silver blades, for example, they wouldn’t hold up well. But you will find many of these objects...

How much gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals were in those buildings before they burned? Are those valuable metals ever recovered, or are they still waiting to be found in the ashes and rubble? 

Gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium and the precious metals are trading for much higher prices per ounce than silver. But does that mean that you should write off silver as a profitable investment metal? Not at all. Here are some pretty compelling reasons why you could make more money in silver than you can with more glamorous precious metals.

If you forgot to do any spring cleaning, these energizing autumn days can be a good time to get going. If you do, there is a pretty good chance that you’ll discover some items that will provide you with a bigger payback than you realize. Here are some items that are lying around my house. Odds are pretty good that they can be recycled very profitably by a top precious metals refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners. 

Be aware that if you find even one spoon or fork from one of these prestigious makers, your discovery could be worth a lot of money to silver dealers, individuals whose sets are missing the item that you found, or as sterling silver that we can recycle for you.

Experienced silver-hunters tell us that they find much more silver at home sales than they find in antique malls, where everything has been picked over by antique dealers or estate sale specialists. If you’re lucky, you may stumble onto entire boxed sets of sterling silver tableware – you might even find an heirloom set of Old English silver.

If you have been waiting to recycle or sell silver until trading prices rise, we invite you to consider a Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Pool Account.  Our Pool Account offers significant benefits, including the ability to sell your silver when prices rise in the future.