Guess the goodies game

Good evening everyone. Thought I'd try a new way to play a "guess the goodies" game. For this one, take a look at the photos below (numbered for convenience). Then answer the poll above; what photo/photos have the best chance of being goodies (aka real silver)?

 

Do you want a verbal reply too? I'm guessing not right now.

 

Completely up to you! I don't mind if you use the poll or write a response, I was just excited to use the POLL

 

following to see...

 

I did the poll and I'm going with #4. I like Mexican silver.....wait is that too much info?

 

I agree with SIS on #4, but I am also thinking possible #6 also.

BWDIK

 

I was thinking 4 and 6 too but on second look think it's 4. I did find a sterling serving bowl once. Once. I wasn't even sure up to that point they'd ever made any solid silver ones.(LOL)

 

Great observations from everyone, including those that answered the poll. Only scroll down if you want the answer:















#4 caught my eye just like everyone else here. You can see how the tone stands out compared to the rest of this lot. Regarding #6, I didn't actually ask about it, my rule with a listing like this is try to find the best out of the bunch and don't annoy the seller asking too many questions. For this listing, everything was listed as $100, so the strategy I used was to offer $50 plus the cost of shipping for just #4 items (they had already shown me photos of the bottom before I made the deal). So $60 later, and some polishing, here's what I got!

 

Pretty sweet. I figured 6 wasn't legit after a second glance, because it's the same pattern as lot of the other pieces and my best hunch is those are all plated. At least one of the three roses pieces was rainbowed out, and we all know what that means by now. Real silver can do that if it's around enough sulphur, but odds are it ain't.

 

Nice! Maybe because I went to Mexico a lot as a child but I find something very wonderful about the heft and honesty of the silver.

 

Your guess was so accurate, very impressive that you spotted the country of origin based on the style. And I agree 100% about the heft, so nice when a maker doesn't go cheap on the amount used.

 

fabulous job of polishing them up Mr Nate

you are amazing SIS, I would never have thought Mexico for those pieces

 

I hope to learn how to spot silver from silver plate through your postings, @MrNate thanks!

 

Hey Nate, #5 has a nice glass casserole dish beneath that lid!

 

What is the Mexican set worth if you were to sell it and what is it worth as scrap silver, please?

 

You can look up spot value using the last photos since I've put them on a scale. I doubt it will sell for a great deal more than spot, collecting silver isn't a big thing right now from what I see. Some people are in to flatware sets, but unless it's high end or very ornamental, it's hard to get more than spot (just my opinion).

 

I don't know what a spot value means or how to look up silver, don't know how to weigh and measure it. I just wondered the approximate worth of the set but certainly not holding your feet to fire about it!

I didn't even realize this set was only good for scraping?

 

There’s a good calculator here:

https://www.silverrecyclers.com/Calculators/ster_calculator.aspx

Spot price just means the current market value of silver which changes. The scrap value of a silver item is based on its silver purity and the weight of it (weighted silver has to be torn apart to find the value of just the silver). So based on this set weighing approx 600 grams, it has a scrap value of $270.

 

I use this calculator to estimate the value as scrap. Spot just means what silver might be selling for on a particular day. I haven't sold any for scrap in awhile (I'm more of a hoarder).

Basically sterling is only 92.5% silver so the refiner subtracts the 7.5% that isn't pure. Then they pay something for the value of the pure silver. The place I used last charged about 10% so using the calculator you put in the weight (oz, gram etc) and it gives you the value of the actual silver. Then if you want you can subtract the what you'll lose in paying the refiner.

So for me I put in the weight then -10% in the profit/loss to get an idea of scrap value. Not sure it's a perfect value but it gives me an idea. This is what came up on yesterday's spot price of silver using his weight minus refiner's 10% cost so $243.12

https://www.silverrecyclers.com/Calculators/ster_calculator.aspx

 

I if I were selling something like this, I'd price it at spot plus name value plus design value. If it's just random maker sterling in a plebian design, that equation equals spot plus shipping. Nice stuff goes higher.