The Silver in Your Flatware Knives Is Worth Money.
… Good Luck Finding Someone Who'll Take Them.
Most people with a sterling silver flatware set eventually figure out that the spoons and forks are worth something. They find a refiner, get a payout, move on. The knives are a different story.
Flatware knives are built with a stainless steel blade and a sterling silver handle. Because of that mixed construction, most refiners won't touch them. Too much work to process, not clean enough as a material, easier to just pass. So when people bring in a flatware set, or call around asking, they hear the same thing over and over: we'll take everything except the knives.
And so the knives go back in the drawer.
That's a real cost. A sterling silver knife handle contains somewhere between a third of an ounce and six-tenths of an ounce of silver depending on the pattern and the maker. On one knife that's not life-changing money. But nobody has one knife. They have eight, or twelve, or a full formal set that came with multiple knives per place setting. That adds up fast, and most people never see a dollar of it because they couldn't find anyone willing to process what they had.
Specialty Metals Smelters & Refiners processes sterling flatware knives. They handle the mixed construction, assess the actual silver content, and pay based on what's recovered. If you've been told by other refiners that your knives aren't worth dealing with, that's not because the silver isn't there. It's because they didn't want the work.
Call Specialty Metals Smelters & Refiners at 800-426-2344 to talk through what you have and find out what it's worth.