Silver bonanza at a garage sale.

[2ndisbest]

Went to a garage sale and had my best silver day ever. The garage sale looked to be the remains of about 3 estates sales. Everything had a price tag on it. I found out talking to the woman running it three relatives had died in the past year and everything they had left was in her garage. Then later when I was walking out I ran into a jewelry shark that I run into from time to time while hitting garage sales, he informed me I was going to be disappointed with my purchase. (I also bought about 40 pounds of "costume" jewelry for $75, get to that part next) Anyway this lady was a ball buster and everything was way over priced, she was giving deals off the tags but still very high for a garage sale. She had about 6 large bags and 5 full wood cases of flatware. Most silverplate but some stainless. While digging through my fifth bag I noticed a spoon that looked a bit different. Low and behold I flip it over, STERLING. So I continue to dig through the bag and find five more. I dig through the rest of the bags and boxes but no more luck.

The only other flatware I bought was a service for 4 bamboo handle set, keep an eye out for these (impossible to miss actually) they sell really good and you can usually get them cheap.

Next comes the jewelry table. I ask the lady how much for everything? She says $100, I give her a face. She immediately says $75, (which is what I would pay for the stuff) so I counter with $50. She says no $75 which I pretend to ponder, then agree too buy. I put all the jewelry into two boxes and with my flatware set it aside to continue to look.

I look through the rest of the garage sale and there is some nice vintage pieces, I grab the ones that catch my eye, (I spent 1 hour and 30 minutes here, lots of stuff!)

I bring up my stuff and we start settling on prices. After the jewelry purchase I think she is going to be reasonable. She is not. She gives me a price on the bamboo set and the six sterling spoons of $15. And she actually picked up the sterling spoon and flipped it over, and I was ready for, "oh this is silver I am not going to sell that", or make me pay spot for it. But no she throws in back into the pile of bamboo flatware.

I agree to the $15 but the rest of the stuff I have to put back except an antique notepad and some political buttons I buy for a friend. All in all I spend $95.

Now as I am walking out the shark is walking in. I say Hello and tell him he is too late, I bought all the jewelry. I show him my two boxes of jewelry and he tells me I am going to be disappointed, this lady knows what she has. I smile and pull out the 6 spoons and say, "I think she missed something." I say good luck and he walks on in as I walk back to my car.

The best part is, I have my sister come over and ask her if she wants any of the jewelry for herself. (omg she loves jewelry and my poor brother in law lets her buy too much ) She came over and took a few pieces and while just pawing through it I found 4 more sterling items. (Knows what she has my ass!) Now I have to really search it, and see what I can find.

I did find this one piece and it is marked STERLING 950. I know not all silver is 925, but I can't recall if different countries use different amounts? Meaning maybe the piece came from a different country and it has more value than just scrap?

But here are the happy totals on the spoons.



By far my best silver score.

So keep hunting gentlemen, even the sharks will miss. DIG DIG AND DIG! Treasure is waiting to be rediscovered! Happy hunting!

 

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[creeper71]

950=95% silver

 

[NHBandit]

Great score. Some French Silver is 950 I found some butter knives in a box of plated stuff that had already been searched by a scrapper and they had an odd proofmark hidden in the design on the handles. Looked it up & it was French 950 Sterling.

 

[capt-zero]

Many countries have used .950 silver. The single most notable is Japan. Prior to the rise of the Meiji emperor, silver was considered a 'sacred' metal and not possessed by anyone without Imperial or religeous sanction. In the late 19th century those strictures were weakened and silver became just another precious metal. Because of it's history, higher purity alloys were preferred and .950 became the standard until after WW11. Many silver objects made in Japan today are still .950, particularly those of a ceremonial nature, and frequently not marked.

England also played with an alloy they called "Regina" silver late in the 19th, but it never really caught on. The Thailand hill country tribes also used a .950 alloy until after WW11. However their alloy was special, highly collectable, and has a facinating history for anyone who might be interested in that sort of thing.

 

[capt-zero]

Many countries have used .950 silver. The single most notable is Japan. Prior to the rise of the Meiji emperor, silver was considered a 'sacred' metal and not possessed by anyone without Imperial or religious sanction. In the late 19th century those strictures were weakened and silver became just another precious metal. Because of it's history, higher purity alloys were preferred and .950 became the standard until after WW11. Many silver objects made in Japan today are still .950, particularly those of a ceremonial nature, and frequently not marked.

England also played with an alloy they called "Regina" silver late in the 19th, but it never really caught on. The Thailand hill country tribes also used a .950 alloy until after WW11. However their alloy was special, highly collectable, and has a facinating history for anyone who might be interested in that sort of thing.