Are these silver contacts?

New to this. Got 4 big breaker boxes from a cleanup. About 40-50 of these switches total so I figured I would try to find these silver contacts.



Are these silver? Am I missing them somewhere else in there?






thanks for the help!!

What was that before you broke it open? Looks similar to something I had a month or two back. If so..yes silver contacts. Tho I reserve the right to change this answer once you answer mine.

Sirscrapalot - Host of the Late night forum show.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

What was that before you broke it open? Looks similar to something I had a month or two back. If so..yes silver contacts. Tho I reserve the right to change this answer once you answer mine.

Sirscrapalot - Host of the Late night forum show.

Hmmm.. its POURING rain atm so I cannot run to the garage for a pic haha. They look just like this, but the switches are bigger. Lined up in the same fashion though. A distribution board I think is the technical name.

ah ha...I'm say yes it's silver. Some one will correct me if wrong. Not the things I was thinking of.

This is what I was thinking about



Is it old? If so good chance of it being silver. Best way is with a silver test kit I imagine till one of the smart folks chime in.

Good score tho~!

Sirscrapalot - Every cloud has its silver lining but it is sometimes a little difficult to get it to the mint. - Don Marquis

Yes you do have silver contacts from your circuit breakers. There should be two per pole so your single poles have 2 and your double poles have 4.

Etack knows more about the actual percentage of silver in the alloy, but you are right on the money with your diagnosis of silver.

Yea..see I told you it was silver.

Etack is the guy for silver tho, that's who helped me with the ones in my picture. Good fella an knows his ****.

Pnut thank you for seconding my thoughts on it being silver.

Sirscrapalot - it is what it is, it's not what it should have been, not what it could have been, it is what it is. - Unknown

I'm no longer do my old "smash with hammer" to mine the silver, copper, brass, aluminum and steel. Now saving, sorting, inspecting and batching by type. As time permits reading, learning and occasionally making a call to electrical salvage buyers. If my notes are correct, some circuit breakers can be "reconditioned, rebuilt and certified/tested for resale. Others can be sold as "used but serviceable". You might find some (like I have) that were never installed and almost as good as new, but considered (NOS) New Old Stock. So as I understand the "possibilities" of reselling circuit breakers. There are many types and ratings, as well as three categories of value. I have found two companies in California that buy circuit breakers for the purpose of resale. They appear to want a quantity worth the time to bother with. One person said call them back when I had 10 or more to sell (that was over a year ago). I now have a box of 20 or more that I plan to try sell for better than scrap value. Until I actually do that, I can only confirm there is a "potential" better than scrap value! I still use the "B.F.H." method on the circuit breakers that have obvious problems (cracked, broken or over heated condition), but that's really more therapy than productive (for me anyway).