If you have a quantity of silver scrap you want to sell, chances are your first step will be to visit a silver refinery near you. After all, these companies, which you can find with a quick online search, are convenient. You can drive right up to them, walk in with your silver scrap, and start negotiating. 

But is that a good way to get the highest payout for your silver scrap? And how will they process your scrap and pay you if you decide to use their services?

When you’re poking around an antique mall one day, you see a display of jewelry – rings, pins and other small items. All the pins and rings and other items you see are bright and shiny, except one. It’s a small cross on a chain, and it looks dull, chalky gray and tarnished.

So what are your eyes telling you? They are telling you that that cross is made of silver, while the other items on display are not. You see, silver tarnishes, while gold, platinum, titanium and other metals that are commonly used to make jewelry do not.

Silver is currently trading for over $20 per Troy Ounce on the London Fix. That seems like a ridiculously low trading price when you consider the trading prices of Rhodium, palladium, gold, and platinum.

It is tempting to say, “What, 20 bucks an ounce? Why even consider investing in silver?”

But don’t cross silver off your list of potential precious metal investments. The fact is, there really is a simple strategy for making a good return trading in silver:

Now Open in the Paramus, NJ Jewelry Exchange on Route 4 West

For more than 40 years, Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners of Fairfield, Connecticut has been testing, recycling, and refining gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals for individual and corporate clients. Now, after serving customers nationwide, Specialty Metals is opening its first retail store. Customers can make an appointment to stop by their booth at The Jewelry Exchange, (located next to Chuck E. Cheese) at 275 Rte 4 West, Paramus, NJ 07652 (when you walk in turn right and they are the first booth along the wall) for expert advice, advanced testing and refining services, or to sell precious metals, jewelry, or fine watches.

Silver is used more in industrial and manufacturing processes than any other precious metal. That means that silver is, and will remain, a great metal to invest in.

In today’s post, we will explore how silver is used in a variety of manufacturing processes. But before we do, we should state that silver is used in two different ways in manufacturing:

If you look in your fridge at this time of year, chances are you will find some leftovers. Maybe there is a little wad of stuffing in a plastic storage box that’s left over from Thanksgiving, or a few slices of a roast from a big meal you served at Chanukah or Christmas. Well, it’s time to toss them.

But what about leftovers from the precious metal scrap you have collected and recycled over the last year? Don’t toss them! If you have been collecting and investing in precious metals, you just might have enough leftover materials to profit from.

If you bought an old house, you should search it carefully for bits of gold, silver and even platinum that could be hidden from sight. And if you are about to sell an old house – maybe one that was owned by a family member – you will obviously want to search it carefully to be sure you will not be leaving any precious metal items behind.

Don’t let valuable precious metals slip through your fingers

A recent trip to our town recycling yard (once called the “town dump”) convinced us that a lot of people are tossing an awful lot of stuff during the time they are staying at home because of Covid-19. They’re cleaning out their basements, attics, garages, and storage rooms. That’s probably a good thing to do. Decluttering and cleaning out are great projects to take on right now. They help us feel like we are making progress and getting organized, in a time when we feel stuck and out of control.

As year 2020 begins, a lot of people have been asking whether platinum, gold, silver or some other metal will turn out to be the best precious metal investment in the months ahead.

The most common answer to that question is almost always something like this . . .

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know that we like to offer advice on where to find platinum, silver and gold scrap in old factories. So we thought it would be interesting and informative to profile one such building - the old Tiffany manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey, that has now been converted to residential apartments. It is located at 90 Tiffany Boulevard - where else could it be?

What are the best places to find huge quantities of precious metals?

How to Avoid Myths and Mistakes

Many answers are flying around to that question. Unfortunately, many of those answers are just plain wrong. In today’s post, let’s take a closer look.

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.