Do you ever get an itch to offer buy sterling silver for over a bid by a sponsor?

I attended a coin show today. There were 25 dealers that bought tables. It was free admission for everyone.

I am roaming around looking for coins (I bought two Saint Gaudens, and six Morgans). I am eyeing a transaction next to me with 835 Sterling objects in great condition. The dealer was offering 40% of retail ($408), and I sure wanted to add 50% more (60% of retail) just to get started on a bid.

I didn't interfere, but I would have really been excited to take 'em home (two old cups, 4 serving plates).

What would you do?

 

835 ain't Sterling....for starters.

At a coin show....I wouldn't know what Retail even is !
Cups & plates get found here by members going to the thrifts at an alarming rate...for pennies on the dollar.
Those are not things I'd collect at Coin show prices.

Hey...you asked !

 

I asked about 83% silver which is recognized as sterling silver here. Yes, I know 93% is a better grade.

This was nice stuff IMO.

 

Sterling silver is sterling silver, and sterling silver has been 92.5% all over the world since the Middle Ages.

 

OK, I get it.

I own 93 sterling silver, but some of us are interested in 83% semi-sterling sliver things that are worth more than a quick calculation of silver content.

I'll melt it down as I am offering 60% of the silver value.

 

.830 is a Continental silver standard, but she ain't sterling. Sterling is 92.5% silver the world over, despite what Ebay says when you list something. They put assorted silver standards under the Sterling banner, even though they're not sterling.

 

Yes - .925 - that way Jewelry marked as such can be sold easily. When you get to 80% like Canadian coins or 40% liike the Kennedy halves (65-70) then all the other US 90% silver has to be calculated along with the silver price that day! Kinda like buying lobster tails - "Market price for that day" - then start doing the math, total weight, then the actuall silver weight, then how much the smelters buy scrap silver from you - I'm not good with math

 

Again, this is 83% silver.
Again, I offered 60% of the silver value.

 

is that 60% of the melt weight
or
60% off the guys Retail price ?
I'm confused...

Offering items for sale on the........Ahhh U no the rest !!

 

OK,
24K carat is pure gold. 22K is around the gold content of old U.S. States gold coins issued from:
The Coinage Act of 1792 established the long running 90% gold standard from 1792 until 1933: This is 141 years. We price the gold content very carefully.

Yes, they are are newly issued gold coins with are 99.9% gold (so 24K). Those are 99% gold for modern gold bugs but do have the pleasure of owning an old 90% coin with its pure design and history of the older coins.

They sell for the same price to it's gold content. Some collectors think the older coins will be more more valuable one day?

I have no opinion and, I do not care one bit. It's a hobby for me.

 

Hey, I was expanding with this post on these thread:

It seems that I spend 50% of my time addressing negative posts?

Is fighting and ripping into critical posts just a requirement here? I can do this very well.

But, I would think that offering helpful advice would be more beneficial to anyone looking for advice in this hobby?

 

when someone asks.....
What would you do?

They open up the thread for any and all opinions......helpful or otherwise.

& though you may not agree with someone's opinion.....it still may be of a helpful nature !

 

I think 83% is usually called coin silver, but that's only part of the consideration in valuing items. There's also who made it and when, and its aesthetic appeal and condition. It's my understanding that a lot of American 19th C (and earlier) silverwares were a coin silver grade. I doubt that a knowledgeable dealer would accept an offer of 60% of melt. I would certainly expect a dealer of precious metals to know the current values and I can't imagine one selling items for less than they could get themselves as scrap.

 

OTOH it doesn't hurt to ask; the worst they'll do is say No. If they bought it cheaply enough and wouldn't get more than 80% melt anyway, this would be a quick flip with no effort.

 

In US silver terms coin silver is .900, after the silver fineness of old US coins.
There is the .833 silver fineness, based on the 18th century Austrian Maria Theresia Taler (a coin). Although it is usually called MTT silver, some people call that coin silver, because the MTT has been recognized for centuries as a reliable fineness in many parts of the world.

Sterling silver is based on Medieval German coins of reliable high fineness which Germans used to trade in the Low Countries.
The Dutch called the coin 'pond oosterling', pound easterner, because Germany is to the east of the Low Countries.
The Brits trading with the Dutch thought the two o's were two zeros, and dropped them. The term pound sterling was born, along with the term sterling silver.

 

800-range = Continental.

925 = Sterling.

"Coin silver", as far as I've always understood it, was 90%.

 

And parts of Latin America, Asia, Africa.

 

I thought Asia used a higher standard? Like, I think Japan uses 950 or something.