Now Is the Time to Recycle Silver Items from Your Holiday Table
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.
Sterling Silver vs. Silver Plated Items
Sterling silver items are made of pure silver and are therefore more valuable than silver-plated items, which have only a thin layer of silver that has been plated over a base metal that could be brass, copper, or even pewter.
How can you tell the difference? In most cases, silver items (both silver-plated and sterling) are stamped with indications of what they are made of. Pure silver is currently trading for more than $20 an ounce. That is not much money. But if you can set aside a decent quantity of some of the following sterling silver items, it could be worth your while to recycle them.
Also remember that if sterling items are stamped with the name of a luxury manufacturer like Gorham, Lunt, Reed & Barton, or Tiffany, they will be worth more than the value of the silver they contain.
Items to Look For
Knives, forks, and spoons that are part of tableware settings
Carving knives and forks (note that in many cases, the handles can be made of silver or silver-plated, while the blades or fork portions are made of stainless steel)
Candlesticks and candelabras, which can contain a good amount of silver
Napkin rings, which can be either sterling silver or silver-plated
Call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners
Obviously, the bigger the quantity of silver you have, the more money you can realize by recycling it. So set items aside and give our precious metal recycling consultants a call at 800-426-2344. We can test your items, issue you a report on what they are worth, reclaim the silver they contain, and pay you what the silver is worth at up-to-the-minute trading prices.
So don’t polish up that silver, use it, and set it aside for another year. If you have silver items you are not using, this could be the time to turn them into cash.
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