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?

[thevintagesilvershop]

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@jennzet-0 wrote:

Did you see the photo of the piece of jewelry posted above.

What you call tarnish, I call patina.

I have several pieces of Tiffany & Co silver pieces.  They do not plate their silver jewelry.  Mine have developed a natural patina and that is how I wear them.

I can understand your point about flatware, though.

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I saw the Jensen pin. I would buff the raised areas to a nice sheen and leave the patina in the recesses and low areas. Would look much better. 

[moondogblues]

"Something else to keep in mind: If you're pieces have monograms (someone's name or initials) inscribed on them, the price will almost always be significantly less than it would be for the same pieces with no monos on them. If you do sell some silver pieces on ebay that are monogrammed, make sure to mention it in the description and also photograph a closeup of the mono as well."

I'm only one buyer, but I buy a lot of silver and I LOVE monograms! I do look for hubby's initials and mine of course but if the piece appeals to me it doesn't matter. I love the sense that it was used and treasured by some one else before me. In this world today of use and toss it gives me a sense of continuity...and any piece saved is one less in the garbage heap.

Oh and I like flatware polished and old teapots not. Just to stay on topic.

[abfabvintage]

Hi, I have used this site for any time I list my gorham silver plate or even real silver pieces/flatware. Hope this helps.

https://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.com/Msc/CareCleaning.html

[tealt]

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@thevintagesilvershop wrote:

Who eats with tarnished silverware?  Who wears tarnished jewelry?  Go into a museum and look at their silver collection. Tarnished?  No. 

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Exactly!

And who wants to eat food served on tarnished, pitted silverplate?  Ick.

It can't be repeated too many times...there is a difference between tarnish and patina.

[tealt]

I've always polished, by hand, silverplated flatware and hollow ware that I wanted to sell.

Polishing often reveals any loss of plating, pitting, and other defects.

I think selling pieces of silverplate without knowing and detailing all the defects is risking a SNAD.

[adkhighker]

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@dinpavent0 wrote:
I personally leave the natural patina. I think that leaving it alone is better. I don't want to mess with the item or damage it in any way. Most of my sales on silver, it seems ppl prefer the item the way it is. IF they want to polish it or clean it up they can. I leave it up to the buyer. As far as price goes, it all depends on what the item is, the age, demand, etc.

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"Most of my sales on silver, it seems ppl prefer the item the way it is."

That is something I always wondered about because it's so hard to know how the buyer prefers it unless you ask the buyer after they buy it. I actually did that once a long time ago where I asked the buyer about it after she bought a sterling silver piece that I had polished. After she left positive feedback,  I messaged her and asked her if it's a good idea to polish a tarnished piece before selling it. She said she prefers to see it polished before buying it because sometimes after polishing is done, there are some of those stubborn little black marks that are next to impossible to remove no matter how much polishing is done, and she likes to know beforehand whether or not the piece will shine up completely or if it will be left with some unsightly marks that can't be removed. 

So when it comes to sterling silver tableware or flatware, I almost always polish it before listing it so I can point out any remaining flaws, if any, such as black marks that can't be removed. OTOH, if I'm selling a piece with all kinds of intricate piercings where it would involve literally hours of hard work to properly polish it, I'll sell it as is with tarnish and let the buyer worry about the polishing, figuring they have more time on their hand than I do, LOL. Also, for any intricate smaller pieces such as antique sterling jewelry, those can be hard to polish, too, so those I'll sell those just as they are and I'll sell them as "in their original dark patina."

[jame234]

I do not clean vintage or antique silver items.

I do clean and shine when item is not vintage and patina is not wanted such as new silver jewelry.

[bonjourami]

A soft jewelers cloth will remove the tarnish,which is corrosion, and should always be removed from the item. It will not remove the patina if rubbed very gently.

[thevintagesilvershop]

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@bonjourami wrote:

A soft jewelers cloth will remove the tarnish,which is corrosion, and should always be removed from the item. It will not remove the patina if rubbed very gently.

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EXACTLY!!  Someone who knows the difference between tarnish and patina and understands that tarnish is corrosion and there may very well be damage underneath and leaving it there will continue to damage the silver.  (this comment does not apply to coins).

[sharingtheland]

::general reply::

I just sold a set of 12 little tableware widgets that were sterling, vintage-getting-close-to-antique.  I did not polish them and stated so in the listing.   It would have been very labor intensive and time consuming to do that for not close to a great deal of money.  

Please, no one tell my husband that people actually buy silverplate trays.  We got more than a few for wedding presents (getting married in the Deep South in the 70's, yep, that's what you got - china, silver, crystal) and never, ever used them.  

Several years ago I checked prices here, abysmally low, and decided to donate instead of polishing up.

[juststuffisell]

This is such an open ended question as you can see from the many responses you received.

Why not clean - Some buyers like the patina that pieces attain, especially jewelry items and antiques.

Why clean? Tarnish can damage the surface of the silver piece. In addition, a properly polished piece really pops especially when designs are left with accenting tarnish... resulting in the piece demanding a higher price and selling quicker.

I personally never polish anything. I sell items exactly as I purchase them and that is more me being lazy than anything else. To polish a nice piece by hand requires time and most sterling bits don't offer the ROI to justify the investment of time to properly do it. On the one occasion I had a heavy sterling statement piece polished due to the fact it was almost black, the piece sold quite quickly at my asking price - though it was 3rd party done and cost me 50 dollars to have professionally polished - because mainly, I am a lazy seller...lol. The high polish finish really made that piece pop.

So, to polish or not depends upon what your objectives are. If your objective is get the most for your piece, I think you properly polish the piece so that it is ready to wear or ready for presentation. I'm of the opinion that most buyers want their jewelry items to really stand out and that requires a proper polishing. The flatware and related serving pieces I think are exactly the same thing - polished.

If you want to retain the look of age and character, you sell it as is and are willing to wait longer for the right buyer that appreciates the tarnished look of the piece or you discount accordingly knowing someone is going to have to spend some time and muscle polish it. Antique sterling or plated piece for display I think would fall into the don't polish category.

This comment does not get into the hidden damage etc that might be present to a piece. Just a general opinion relative to your original question.

Relative to question 2 most mass produced jewelry of today is IMHO pretty much scrap if it is damaged. Naturally there are exceptions (i.e. Tiffany, Cartier, Yurman etc) all of which I rarely have because I will not pay the premium for the designer name. Vintage bits really depend, again, on brand/who made it. Antique pieces I always pay my jeweler to repair or I list at a price where it does not make sense for a scrapper to purchase.

Just my humble opinion which is worth about as much as any of ya'll paid for it 🙂

Cheers

[thevintagesilvershop]

Good points!

[jennzet-0]

Yes, but not cleaning it properly, especially with plate, can damage it as well causing pits and destroying any design on it.

[jason_incognito]

It is very easy to get all caught up in this.

There is a collectible market. It is small and for the most part could not care one bit about either silver plate or the brands you have. Leonard and Oneida are both really low end.

These pieces will never be collectible. Face it, you are in the usage market, not the collectible market and you need to make these bright and shiny to sell to someone that wants a tray to put out, not one to pack away so it increases in value.

I bought a silver tray and spray painted it. In fact, if I had these and were trying to sell them locally, that is exactly what I would do with them. I'd paint them and sell them for more.

From my actual experience selling oneida and rogers silverplate, absolutely clean them.

[thekozz7]

This answer is for non-plated sterling silver only: I sell quite a bit of silver jewelry and I once asked this question and received a good answer that works well for me.

- If it's a vintage item leave it alone. Often times the buyer is looking to resell and they want the item in the condition found, tarnish and all. Example: vintage or old pawn jewelry pieces.

- If it's a newer contemporary item, in most all cases, definitely polish it. If the piece doesn't have stones or other material I use a liquid solution. But I also have a cloth polisher that really helps to remove fine scratches. For example a newer branded sterling silver ring that I was able to remove scratches and made it look better than when I found it.

However, a warning that not all people appreciate seeing unpolished pieces. I had a person rip me a new one via messaging because I was offering a piece with tarnish. So you can't please everyone! But in the listings where the silver is unpolished with tarnish, I do offer to polish pieces upon request. Hope that helps!