Silver items - clean or no clean?

[second-chance-sa1es]

For those that sell silver items. Silver or silver plated I have some questions. Speculation also welcome.

1. Do you guys find that when you are selling a non scrap item weather sterling or plated, do you find that it sells better, for more, or quicker if its cleaned and polished vs the patina left on it? What is the over under? how much faster, how much more?

2. Where do you draw the line between an item that is scrap and an item that is worth selling at an item price? Seller appeal? Hard numbers from the sold section?

[mypostingid15]

Vintage/Collectible = No

Wearable Jewelry = Yes

Broken Jewelry = Scrap

[jewelbiz]

Answer- Never

[jennzet-0]

That photo says it all.

[second-chance-sa1es]

3 of them are E.P. (electro plated silver) one other two others probably the same.

[scga912]

Silver plate trays, depending on the pattern/style/maker, are absolutely worth polishing.

It's all about condition.  If you can't tell what the condition is because the tarnish, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table.  Does it have plate loss, pitting, or deep scratches? 

I've sold some silver plate trays for pretty decent money ($70-$125) but they can go higher.

Just search Silver Plate Tray and take a look at the solds (high to low) and 95% of the ones that bring in money are polished.

[second-chance-sa1es]

No Monograms on these ones, anything with a mongram on it I typically salt bath deplate and then smelt into a bead and then I recycle whats left as scrap steel.

[second-chance-sa1es]

one moment I will get you some pictures

[scga912]

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@second-chance-sa1es wrote:
No Monograms on these ones, anything with a mongram on it I typically salt bath deplate and then smelt into a bead and then I recycle whats left as scrap steel.

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Good that you do something with it, but monogrammed silverplate does have an audience - again, depending on the pattern.

Sold an Aldine monogrammed silverplate ladle for $58.

Just sold a monogrammed sterling butter knife a few days ago for $36

I have sold quite a few monogrammed flatware pieces - both sterling and silverplate.

After you polish things, seal them!  Wrap the trays in saran wrap and/or a large enough plastic bag.  Put your flatware in Ziplocs.   I have a few silver flatware boxes that I store in too.

Sealing is a necessity especially if you live in a humid area. 

[second-chance-sa1es]

the last thing I deplated was a modern (plastic base) silver plated wedding cup that was monogrammed. Not sure it would have had much of an audience.

[second-chance-sa1es]

[second-chance-sa1es]

Dont let the light in the first photo fool you, its nowhere near as shiny as it looks on my passanger seat.

[adkhighker]

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@second-chance-sa1es wrote:
No Monograms on these ones, anything with a mongram on it I typically salt bath deplate and then smelt into a bead and then I recycle whats left as scrap steel.

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I should have mentioned it earlier, but my previous posts were geared mostly to sterling silver, especially the one where I was talking about scrapping vs listing on ebay. 

For silver plated items, such as your trays, your best bet is to try to sell them on ebay because the silver scrappers pay next to nothing for them. And, I would consider polishing those trays you have as it would increase chances of a higher price than if you were to sell them heavily tarnished. Best of luck. I hope they do well.

[pecanpiea24]

Don't clean

[second-chance-sa1es]

Ok fair enough. Why? Thats not meant as the challenge it probably sounds like. but there does seem to be two very different schools of thought on this and I would certainly be curious to know some numbers one way or the other.

[jennzet-0]

My opinion.  Vintage is not supposed to look all shiny and new.

That tray has history.  Cleaning gets rid of it.

I could understand if your items were badly tarnished and close to the yuck factor.  Your items have just a bit of patina that I feel gives them character and distinguishes them from the Chinese replicas.