I have no knowledge of antique cutlery but I have an interest in gold and silver. Silver has gone up hugely in price in recent months and years.
Assuming it's sterling silver (you should be able to find guides to the hallmarks on the web) then the underlying silver in it is worth about £630 per kg (or 63p per gramme) at today's prices. Obviously I'm not suggesting you melt them down for scrap (which would give you rather less than the silver value) but at least you can weight them and get a ballpark figure for the value of the underlying metal there.
Obviously with luck it will be worth hugely more than scrap value if it has some rarity or desirability as an antique.
Well, really if they're hallmarked then they're probably solid silver and I think most solid silver is fairly pure (Sterling is 92.5% and Brittania is 95.8%). Google finds me http://www.925-1000.com/british_marks.html if that helps.
I imagine there are people out there who like antique silver cutlery so I doubt that you'll want to melt them down for scrap. But if they're nothing special then my guess (and it is just a guess) is that they will be worth round about the value of the underlying silver content more or less (my guess is maybe a little more). If you were to scrap them, they would be worth somewhat less than the silver because it costs money to melt them down.
But please note, this is all just a guess! But certainly weigh them as a starting point.
@tosscat: Oh, I'm bullish about silver - I just don't see it going up sevenfold in under ten months! $250 is definitely amongst the highest predictions I've read.
The guy in Muswell Hill with the 'We Buy Any Jewellery' shop near the big bus roundabout is a really nice man and I'm sure would give you good advice. His shop looks pretty ropey but he's straightforward and honest. I've sold him quite a few things over the years.
Comments
Assuming it's sterling silver (you should be able to find guides to the hallmarks on the web) then the underlying silver in it is worth about £630 per kg (or 63p per gramme) at today's prices. Obviously I'm not suggesting you melt them down for scrap (which would give you rather less than the silver value) but at least you can weight them and get a ballpark figure for the value of the underlying metal there.
Obviously with luck it will be worth hugely more than scrap value if it has some rarity or desirability as an antique.
HTH
-roy
I imagine there are people out there who like antique silver cutlery so I doubt that you'll want to melt them down for scrap. But if they're nothing special then my guess (and it is just a guess) is that they will be worth round about the value of the underlying silver content more or less (my guess is maybe a little more). If you were to scrap them, they would be worth somewhat less than the silver because it costs money to melt them down.
But please note, this is all just a guess! But certainly weigh them as a starting point.
-roy
-roy
Are you sure you're not thinking of predictions of oil reaching $250 per barrel?
-roy
Anything is possible, though.