Coin silver, or for that matter, anything of silver content, has a value just due to the silver content alone. Many people don't grasp that concept because silver is a commodity, like gold, copper, wheat, corn, or any other commodity, and as a commodity, the value changes every day. Coin silver is melted down old coins, made into flatware, mostly by local jewelers, and mostly in an 1850-1880's era where people didn't have access to buying good flatware any other way. We have bought and sold silver here for many years, and during that time period the quoted value of silver has gone from about $4.50 per troy ounce (about 31 grams), all the way up to $50 per troy ounce, and then back down to the current price of around $15 per troy ounce. Again, the actual intrinsic value of the base silver metal changes daily, and coin silver is 90% silver, and sterling is 92.5% silver. There are collectors for coin silver flatware, and it does sell here on eBay, but condition matters a lot, and if it is dented, or bent, or damaged, then it is essentially scrap silver, which is just worth the base silver value, or perhaps even less. Much also depends on the maker, and some come old coin silver marks are much more highly desirable, than others. Just search on eBay, or on other sites, and you can learn much how desirable your makers mark might be. I'll stop there, and give others a chance to speak. Good luck with your coin silver items.
