the silver joke - Page 2

Personally I wouldn't be talking about all the silver you have stashed, you have to remember all the "guests" we have here on a nightly basis.
Never know who's reading your posts,,,,,

Originally Posted by directrecycle

here is a question for you.

if i do happen to see sterling silverware at a yard sale what is the approx avg weight or dollar value on a spoon or fork at todays value

I just weighed one of my sterling forks, it weighs 48 grams / 1.54 troy oz sterling / 1.42 oz .999 (pure) silver.
Silver is at $21.82
Spoons may weigh slightly more but don't count the knifes as only the handle is sterling and it is filled with plaster or cement.

I would pay nowhere near $20 for a single fork or spoon, that's just me.

If you find complete sets they are worth much more, some patterns are worth a lot more than scrap value, some not all silver plate flatware in good condition is worth more than scrap.

Originally Posted by Stangit

Wow, I'd like to learn how to identify some of that. Stopped in my local Thrift today and "silverware" was selling for 18 cents a piece.
I imagine it would be stamped, or are some not?

In a later post in this thread I told how to id some silver marks, there are others but the ones I listed are the most common.
I am by far no expert, but I have educated myself on silver marks and makers.

silver has been taking a hit the last couple of weeks it is becoming a buyers market.

Originally Posted by TheRecycleGuy

that's awesome find, there are yardsale pro's out there doing just that.. problem is I cant tell difference between silver and other metals that look like it..

Look at post #6, I gave some tips on what to look for.

copper head, silver and copper is at 3 year lows, time to buy or wait for prices to go lower? silver at $20 and copper at $3

with today's price being $18.90 per ounce, do you think $22.10 an ounce is a good buy price?
never really bought precious metals as an investment but I'm not opposed to picking up a few ounces here and there as part of my long term retirement plan. Found a place where I can buy as much as I want at this price ($3.20 above spot) and was just not sure if that margin was right or too high. They have 1oz, 5oz, and 10oz bars at that price right now. I appreciate any input from all you wiser than I in the ways of commodities...

I am still not a buyer at this price. Last go around, I was a buyer from 7 up until 12. Then I started selling at 15 up to about 30 before it was all gone. I had a lot of it as well. I won't be a buyer until it gets back to 10 or so.

Just wish that I would have saved a portion "just to save it" from when I had bought it.

Buying on the way down is not the way to buy it when it looks like it will keep going down. People are talking $700 gold which will throw silver back to around $10 to $12 or less. It all depends on what happens in the coming months.

If it stabilizes then e-scrap will stay strong, if not then I will become a buyer. I can be happy either way, but want the prices to stay high.

My kingdom for a crystal ball.

Cost averaging of course is a good thing to do and if you bought high, then by all means grab some on the way down little by little.

But paying that much over spot is crazy in my opinion. I would find a local coin dealer that operates on 10% in both directions. Not been in touch with that market in the last couple years, but when I had a bunch of it, my small time coin dealer was operating on those margins.

On edit, I prefer to deal with the local coin dealer for 2 reasons. 1, because I always prefer to deal as local as possible. 2, because coins are easier spent if the stuff really hits the fan. A full ounce silver round is nice, but a U.S. minted 90% silver dime has the advantage of not having to make change in that situation.

When I do start buying again, it will be U.S. 90% dimes.