where to sell solid silver and antiques

bitten_by_cutie wrote: »

I inherited alot of solid silver antique items, like tea sets, huge set of cutlery, Georgian and Victorian. I also got 3 full sets of wedgewood, and many paintings (none famous that I know of). I also got jewellery, in gold and precious stones and some swiss watches. I literally did not know where to start with them and felt bad to sell at the time it happened as they were cherished items. but they have been sitting in cupboards for a few years and now we are moving, I would like to keep some and sell some, I just do not want it all or have the room, as I had my own decor already before I got it all.


I want to get as much as I can for them, I looked on ebay and the prices seem quite low and I do not fancy the risk or shipping them off, but I can do a few pieces on there perhaps.


I am in South East UK


I am wondering if I should hold on to silver in case the price were to go up significantly.



Anyone ever sold their stuff here? Wanted some advice on auctions, online and in person/dealer selling and what I should expect price-wise.


If anyone knows of places in particular, then I will check them out

I can't comment on the ceramics or paintings but I do know a fair bit about silver as one of my pals buys it in from the public.He also deals in gold and in jewellery.

Due to changing lifestyles and modern people not aspiring to own silver as a high status item, silver articles, even handsome Georgian and Victorian silver, are very undervalued at the moment.

Every dealer I know has the same tale - dealers are lucky if they can sell even very lovely antique silver for as little as £1/ gramme. 50p a gramme is more common as a selling-on price and they'd have to give you less than that. It scraps in London (go to Heart of Hatton Garden for plenty of dealers, best to avoid Fridays as somebuyers are Jewish and will be observing the sabbath) at approximately 33p/ gramme. The Trade is awash with good silver that no one wants to buy as articles, apart from a few collectors who have their eye on the very long term and are relishing the opportunity to snapping up the good stuff at £1/ gramme or even less. Silver has been a lot higher than it is now but due to a cartel (google for Nelson Bunker-Hunt for an explanation) which was busted years ago. As to whether it will go higher, that's not knowable.


Proportionately, small articles like little boxes, vesta cases, cigarette cases and little bowls are more easy to sell as articles than big things. Things which are usable, such as picture frames and candlesticks, are also more saleable. One of my pals has been trying to sell a gorgeous victorian silver teaset for well over a year now and no one wants to buy it even at £1/ gramme. And don't even get me started on the glut of silver punch bowls, sauce boats, chalices, napkin rings, spoons and giant prize cups etc etc. Engraving of names, events and even monogrammed initials is also kiss-of-death to value as articles.

There are some makers and some cities which command a premium so I would recommend you borrow or buy a guide to silver hallmarks and check what you have. You will probably need a magnifying glass to read them, unless you are quite near-sighted.

Auctions usually charge a seller's premium and a buyer's premium which is a jumped-up term for fees. You pay to have them sell your stuff, often north of 20% and they levy another premium (fee) on the buyer, who thus lowers their bid because they know they're going to be stung and need to factor in their total outlay. For the seller (you) it's a lose-lose. A lot of dealers are so p'd off with auction houses doing this that they barely darken their doors these days.

Another thing to be aware of is that silver cutlery usually has a filler inside its handles (plaster or a horrible resin) so the handle is going to be a layer of silver over rubbish. The trade will not pay for that. You also find filler in the handles of dressing-table articles like hand mirrors, hair brushes etc and you will find resin. plaster or lead giving weight to candlestick bases.

Many high street jewellers can offer on gold jewellery. Articles which are out of fashion or worn will only be worth scrap. Today, scrap gold is £10.50/ gramme for 9 ct and £21/ gramme for 18 ct. It may be more, less or similar tomorrow/ next week/ next month. You can check gold and silver prices on kitco.com - the trade will be doing so.The prices there are per troy ounce which is 31.1 grammes (precious metals are sold in troy ounces, not to be confused with the ordinary ounce on you kitchen or bathroom scales).

Many gemstones aren't particularly valuable, including small diamonds. You can buy loose gemstones in the jewellery trade with change from £1 in many cases. Large and very well coloured stones are worth more than that, but you'd be surprised at the low value of the raw materials of much jewellery - jewellers mark it up about 400% over production costs, which is why it's such a shock to get a lowball bid in the secondhand jewellery trade. It's not likely that you're being dissed particularly if you get the same(ish) price from several dealers at the same time - it's that the new prices are/ were extortionate.


Gold and silver may well spike before/ around or after Brexit, you might want to sit on your hands for a while.




ETA; watches are very collectable and some are extremely valuable. You should seek advice from specialist watch dealers not generalists, and from more than one source.


HTH.

I packaged mine up and sent them to https://www.tooveys.com who sold them on for a fair price and sent me a cheque 2 weeks later - yes there are photo and seller fees but I was happy with their service.

Box it all up and put it in the loft. Your grandchildren will thank you - because by then much of the silver in circulation will have been melted down, and yours will have achieved a level or rarity, and fashions may well have changed.

Thank you for that detailed post GreyQueen I have been trying to explain to a friend that the cost or insurance value of jewellery doesn't give any indication of it's likely second hand selling price, but I don't have the precise information and explanations which you have given