Inventorying "stuff"

[Brat]

Husband (85) and I (82) have been taking an inventory of things we have accumulated over the years. Some would have no value to our children but might have market value. For example there are 4 silver spoons that match nothing but look to be solid silver. I would like to explore selling them to a dealer. Has anyone done that?

 

[pacergal]

After my last parent died, I took jewelry, sliver, etc that no family member wanted and did not go in the estate sale and sold to a local jeweler/coin establishment. Probably didn't get as much as I could have, but so simple.

 

[Koolau]

Husband (85) and I (82) have been taking an inventory of things we have accumulated over the years. Some would have no value to our children but might have market value. For example there are 4 silver spoons that match nothing but look to be solid silver. I would like to explore selling them to a dealer. Has anyone done that?

I went to a coin/PM dealer and sold a large silver serving spoon. He gave me silver value minus his cut and expenses. Very transparent. YMMV

 

[brett]

Husband (85) and I (82) have been taking an inventory of things we have accumulated over the years. Some would have no value to our children but might have market value. For example there are 4 silver spoons that match nothing but look to be solid silver. I would like to explore selling them to a dealer. Has anyone done that?

Our friends inherited a great deal of silver cutlery, utensils, serving dishes, etc plus a great deal of crystal. Wealthy family hand me downs.

They tried to find a market for it. There was none. Best advice they got was to sell the silverware to a refiner. Which they did. The only value was in the metal.

We did the same with various gold jewelry when we downsized into a container. We had no use for it, no need to place it in our bank safe deposit box.

The crystal? Absolutely no market whatsoever. They are now using heritage crystal goblets etc for day to day use.

Our fine china and silverware, etc. is still in the packing boxes since we downsized 13 years ago. We do not use it, neither of our children want it.

 

[pjm-7]

Knowing that the crystal has no market value it has sat in the box. However, last year for a Christmas White Elephant gift exchange I "gifted" four nice wine glasses. The recipient really liked the gift. She was surprised that I would gift some of my parents wedding crystal, but she can use them. Now I just need to be invited to some more white elephant gift exchanges.��

 

[Koolau]

Our friends inherited a great deal of silver cutlery, utensils, serving dishes, etc plus a great deal of crystal. Wealthy family hand me downs.

They tried to find a market for it. There was none. Best advice they got was to sell the silverware to a refiner. Which they did. The only value was in the metal.

We did the same with various gold jewelry when we downsized into a container. We had no use for it, no need to place it in our bank safe deposit box.

The crystal? Absolutely no market whatsoever. They are now using heritage crystal goblets etc for day to day use.

Our fine china and silverware, etc. is still in the packing boxes since we downsized 13 years ago. We do not use it, neither of our children want it.

Heh, heh, everything has changed in the past 50 years. None of the "fine" things of 50 years ago have any value now (other than metals value.) YMMV

 

[DrRoy]

I'm sure we have stuff that our sons would have little interest in. They would probably just leave it as selling would be too much trouble.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Sterling silver will be marked as such. If it is silverplate, throw it. I brought some silver pieces to a dealer for melt value.

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sil...er (925): This,would also qualify as sterling.

We have an antique gallery near our home. I walked through it and some of the dealers had unmatched pieces of silver and china for sale (to complete a set). To me it looked like a bunch of old junk. We got rid of my mom's poorly managed coin collection a couple of years ago, mostly for its melt value.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Locally jewelers and coin shops buy silver.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Sterling silver will be marked as such. If it is silverplate, throw it. I brought some silver pieces to a dealer for melt value.

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sil...er (925): This,would also qualify as sterling.

We have an antique gallery near our home. I walked through it and some of the dealers had unmatched pieces of silver and china for sale (to complete a set). To me it looked like a bunch of old junk. We got rid of my mom's poorly managed coin collection a couple of years ago, mostly for its melt value.

Thank you for this information!
I have pieces of “silverware” from my grandmother that I have never used. They’ve been sitting in a box for over 30 years. I took them because I liked the pattern. My mom thinks they are just silver plated. Now I know how to tell. I’m tossing them if that’s the case.
I also have crystal stemware from my mom and dad’s wedding. We always used them as kids but they are way too much hassle these days. They take up way too much space.
It sounds like they are trash too.

I’m planning a garage clean out next week so this thread is very timely for me.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Irish girl, either give away online or donate to a thrift store. Please don’t add to the landfill. I bought a set of 8 new crystal wine glasses at goodwill for 20 and was happy to get them.

 

[Koolau]

I figure when we pass on, our kids will bring in a dumpster and fill it up. We've got pictures dating back to the late 1800's of family, etc. The kids have shown no interest up to now, so - dumpster. Books, outdated furniture, lamps, keep-sakes, etc. Dumpster!

We have nothing of "value" (like sterling silver ware, etc.) so - out it all goes. I have no problem with that, but I just love the way we have both of our abodes set up. In the old homestead, there are items I used as a kid. Memories flood back often as I realize my parents used these items as well. But our kids won't think of such things when the time comes to shovel out our old stuff. Sad? Not really. Maybe just a little bit disappointing. YMMV

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I went looking for the silverware- haven’t found it yet!
But I did come across an old wooden train set that I think was my older brother’s.
It reminded me about the warning of not using old items- dishes, glasses, toys, etc if they are red. Those likely have lead in the red paint which can have serious health impacts on children.
They should be disposed of.
So, out goes the train set.

 

[Amethyst]

I wish I had a pal who wanted to get rid of some fine crystal! I love it, and it's quite expensive to buy new....even on Ebay the nice pieces aren't cheap.

 

[Koolau]

I went looking for the silverware- haven’t found it yet!
But I did come across an old wooden train set that I think was my older brother’s.
It reminded me about the warning of not using old items- dishes, glasses, toys, etc if they are red. Those likely have lead in the red paint which can have serious health impacts on children.
They should be disposed of.
So, out goes the train set.

Don't put it in your mouth, wash your hands after handling and I'm guessing you'd be fine. Could be more harmful to small kids to play with. If it's an antique, it's probably worth something. YMMV

 

[CRLLS]

Sterling silver will be marked as such. If it is silverplate, throw it. I brought some silver pieces to a dealer for melt value.

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sil...er (925): This,would also qualify as sterling.

We have an antique gallery near our home. I walked through it and some of the dealers had unmatched pieces of silver and china for sale (to complete a set). To me it looked like a bunch of old junk. We got rid of my mom's poorly managed coin collection a couple of years ago, mostly for its melt value.

We sold MIL's sterling cutlery to a local shop for the silver content. However they also paid us for the silver plate. It seems there is a fair amount of copper in them that is worth enough to reclaim. not all shops do this. It might ne worth asking.

 

[Midpack]

We were pleased with what we got $ for our china and some (Swarovski) collectibles from https://www.replacements.com/. Selling china, crystal, flatware, collectibles, and (some) jewelry yourself is a PITA, and you get less IME. We sold all of DWs Longaberger baskets on eBay, made squat, wish we’d known about replacements.com instead…

 

[Koolau]

We were very pleased with what we got $ for our china and some collectibles from https://www.replacements.com/. Selling china, crystal, flatware, collectibles, and (some) jewelry yourself is a PITA, and you get less IME.

I'm sure you're right about all but maybe gold/silver jewelry. There are dealers that have been around for decades who will buy jewelry for scrap PM price. They have competition, so must give a reasonably fair price. We shopped around when we did this many years back. One dealer always stood out as far as giving a fair price. YMMV

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Sorry, this is a little off topic but it shows how culture has changed the market for OP's items.

It was a thing in proper Virginia society (not my immigrant family) to give your daughter pieces of her silver pattern and her china pattern for birthdays and other gift giving events. Beginning at birth. That way, when she became of age, she would be ready to entertain. A proper Virginia man would insist on a wife who was ready to entertain his business associates or something like that.

A while ago, I called up one of these proper ladies (my age) and she confirms the culture, says she still has it, hasn't used it since she doesn't know when and knows it has no value. Her daughters don't want it.

 

[Slim11]

Give away to your familly what they want now, ask them. I just cleaned up my aunts home, lots of nice expensive stuff from years past. No one wanted it, even for free. I now have boxes of junk in the garage because I couldn't throw some of the stuff out. Sad part is most went on a dumpster. We had a scedual for selling the home, and time was one thing we didnt have. Silver has worth, but a few spoons will not be worth much. Crystal can be worth something if its high end, but even that isnt worth much. Same with lenox and stangle. Its good to purge stuff, just know that most of the worth in an item you own was your own satisfaction with that item. Its sad, but its true.

 

[Slim11]

I went to replacements, they offered 450 for a full stirling flatware set. They sell the same set for 4500. Melt value was about 650. So for that money i will use it.

 

[Sunset]

I figure when we pass on, our kids will bring in a dumpster and fill it up. We've got pictures dating back to the late 1800's of family, etc. The kids have shown no interest up to now, so - dumpster. Books, outdated furniture, lamps, keep-sakes, etc. Dumpster!

We have nothing of "value" (like sterling silver ware, etc.) so - out it all goes. I have no problem with that, but I just love the way we have both of our abodes set up. In the old homestead, there are items I used as a kid. Memories flood back often as I realize my parents used these items as well. But our kids won't think of such things when the time comes to shovel out our old stuff. Sad? Not really. Maybe just a little bit disappointing. YMMV

+1
I have a bed warmer in the corner .... Nobody uses them anymore

When I got to Cracker Barrel, it's like being at my cabin, seeing all the old stuff on the walls.

 

[Koolau]

Give away to your familly what they want now, ask them. I just cleaned up my aunts home, lots of nice expensive stuff from years past. No one wanted it, even for free. I now have boxes of junk in the garage because I couldn't throw some of the stuff out. Sad part is most went on a dumpster. We had a scedual for selling the home, and time was one thing we didnt have. Silver has worth, but a few spoons will not be worth much. Crystal can be worth something if its high end, but even that isnt worth much. Same with lenox and stangle. Its good to purge stuff, just know that most of the worth in an item you own was your own satisfaction with that item. Its sad, but its true.

Here is a calculator for sterling silver (IIRC that's around 92.5% silver.) The calculator only indicates how much silver you have and prices it at spot. Obviously, melting and recovery of silver is not free, so the values calculated are strictly the silver value. BUT if you find a reliable dealer (coin/silver/gold shop) the sterling scrap value is still quite significant.

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

 

[Slim11]

Not so much, lol. A large serving ladle in a larger set is about 70 grams, so about 50 bucks. A table spoon is probably 10 grams, teaspon 6.5. So, 7 tablespoons gets you 50 bucks. Then take out 5 to 15 percent for the place you sell it too. They have to make money on it also. Like I said, I have a pretty big set with extra teaspons and all the serving stuff, 650 melt value. If you have the whole set, it may be worth it, but a spoon or two, 15 bucks isn't significant. Its a few gallons of gas.

 

[Major Tom]

I have gold engagement and wedding rings from when I was engaged a while back. She gave me the engagement band back when we broke it off, about 15 years ago. I could get a worthwhile amount for them but, for some reason, cannot quite bring myself to do that. We will never get back together, so I am not holding onto them "just in case". I think it's just nostalgia. It's not a life-changing amount of money, and the rings take up very little space, so I'll probably hang onto them and let someone else who comes after me sell them. I live on my own and, by that time, may not have close family or friends. It could be a fun find for someone - a way of saying, "Thanks for dealing with all of my junk!"