sterling silver

[DemonWolfe]

I was at a garage sale today and found a box of those small state spoons that they sell in conveinent stores all over the place. on the back they say sterling silver, so i bought them, like 20 of them for 2 dollars. i am just unsure whether or not they are actually silver, because a magnet will pick them up easily. what is the purity of sterling silver and is it worth picking up when i find it. thanks.

 

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[colorado14ers]

if they are solid then they shouldnt get picked up by a magnet. maybe they are fake

 

[batcap]

I was at a garage sale today and found a box of those small state spoons that they sell in conveinent stores all over the place. on the back they say sterling silver, so i bought them, like 20 of them for 2 dollars. i am just unsure whether or not they are actually silver, because a magnet will pick them up easily. what is the purity of sterling silver and is it worth picking up when i find it. thanks.

At least you have something you can eat cereal with, or not, depending on how small they are. A fully functional spoon is worth a dime. Today pure silver is a little over $23/oz. One sterling teaspoon is easily worth $15., probably more. I'm looking at a US silver eagle, trying to imagine what it would look like as a spoon. In general, I would say that sterling teaspoons are bigger than silver eagles, but are only 92.5% pure silver.
It is always worth trying to pick up sterling with a magnet, BEFORE you pay for it, because silver that sticks to a magnet is not silver at all. Just because it doesn't stick to a magnet still doesn't mean it is silver, so if I were you I'd spend a little time with several verified silver objects before I spent any more cash on it.

 

[DemonWolfe]

sorry.. don't carry a magnet around in my pocket all the time. does anyone know anything about "german silver" found a old tea set thats made out of it, it looks like silver but why call it german silver if its not silver, only paid $3 for the whole set at a auction last week. looks neat, even if its not worth anythng

 

[hobo finds]

Sterling silver conversion chart... http://www.silverrecyclers.com/Calculators/ster_calculator.aspx

 

[DigginThePast]

sorry.. don't carry a magnet around in my pocket all the time. does anyone know anything about "german silver" found a old tea set thats made out of it, it looks like silver but why call it german silver if its not silver, only paid $3 for the whole set at a auction last week. looks neat, even if its not worth anythng

Sorry....at least it was only 3 bucks.

"German silver name for various alloys of copper, zinc, and nickel, sometimes also containing lead and tin. They were originally named for their silver-white color, but use of the term silver is now prohibited for alloys not containing that metal."....
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/German_silver.aspx