Thrift store silver!

[gilgar]

I've always heard stories about people finding Sterling silver in thrift stores but I've never seen any in all my years of thrifting until today. About $450 melt worth for a little over 3 bucks. woohoo! Haven't checked yet if any might be worth more as actual silverware. (estimating weight on knives based on info from internet) Just mixed in with the usual piles of forks & knives I saw the color & started digging.

 

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[traveller777]

I've always heard stories about people finding Sterling silver in thrift stores but I've never seen any in all my years of thrifting until today. About $450 melt worth for a little over 3 bucks. woohoo! Haven't checked yet if any might be worth more as actual silverware. (estimating weight on knives based on info from internet) Just mixed in with the usual piles of forks & knives I saw the color & started digging.

Great pick.

 

[Red-Coat]

That's a terrific score if they're actually silver. How are they marked?

 

[Trezurehunter]

Great score !

 

[gilgar]

That's a terrific score if they're actually silver. How are they marked?

Gorham Sterling

 

[Red-Coat]

Gorham Sterling

That's great. It's Gorham's "Chantilly" pattern, designed by William C. Codman in 1895. For sure those will be worth more than melt. They look to be in lovely condition.



Chantilly was in production for a loooong time and unfortunately Gorham didn't use their date marking systems on small pieces of flatware. Whatever the age, there will be folks wanting to expand a set they already have, or looking to fill gaps in partial sets which have missing pieces.

 

[Heavygold4me]

Sweet find, I keep looking but haven’t been able to score at my local goodwill .

 

[Armstrong]

I always check the bins with the utensils but they are always just plated. I saw about 20 pieces behind the front desk area so I have to hope they miss a few one time. Assuming they keep the silver ones up there but its too far to tell for sure.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Well done !

 

[SD51]

Here's a site where you can order additional pieces.

Gives an idea what they are worth...

https://www.replacements.com/

 

[Georgivs]

Nice!

 

[bonepicker]

Would like to see the makers marks on all of these.
One mark that I can see on the knives looks an awful lot like STAINLESS.

 

[Rothman]

I have found plenty of "Sterling" ware in various thrift shops over the years. I have never found any that were actually solid sterling with the exception of a singular baby cup that was solid .925. Every piece I've seen was plated and mentioned the word "sterling" in some kind of context with other words that makes it ambiguous. I.E. "Sterling Mills" or the like. Yeah, says sterling but in reality, it's plated. Fingers crossed for you on these. Hope the research pans out in your favor!

 

[Red-Coat]

View attachment 2011156Would like to see the makers marks on all of these.
One mark that I can see on the knives looks an awful lot like STAINLESS.

Yes, it does. I didn't try zooming in to look for marks. No problem if that's what it says. It just means the pieces are later and - if they do actually say "Gorham Sterling" - then that refers to the knife handles being silver, not the blades.

Stainless steel became increasingly common for the knife blades on silver cutlery from the 1920s onwards. For Gorham's Chantilly, 1895 was the date for the pattern, not the production date. As I said, it was in production for a long time, and a lot of it was made in the 1950s.

 

[Digger RJ]

I've always heard stories about people finding Sterling silver in thrift stores but I've never seen any in all my years of thrifting until today. About $450 melt worth for a little over 3 bucks. woohoo! Haven't checked yet if any might be worth more as actual silverware. (estimating weight on knives based on info from internet) Just mixed in with the usual piles of forks & knives I saw the color & started digging.

Score!!!! Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

I've always heard stories about people finding Sterling silver in thrift stores but I've never seen any in all my years of thrifting until today. About $450 melt worth for a little over 3 bucks. woohoo! Haven't checked yet if any might be worth more as actual silverware. (estimating weight on knives based on info from internet) Just mixed in with the usual piles of forks & knives I saw the color & started digging.

Sweet silver, congrats!

 

[testing123]

View attachment 2011156Would like to see the makers marks on all of these.
One mark that I can see on the knives looks an awful lot like STAINLESS.

It's common for sterling silver sets to have stainless blades and sterling handles. The fact that the blade is stainless doesn't necessarily mean the handle is as well. Now, a lot of these sterling handles are filled, so larger handles will average about 1/2 oz of silver per.

 

[ajaj]

It's common for sterling silver sets to have stainless blades and sterling handles. The fact that the blade is stainless doesn't necessarily mean the handle is as well. Now, a lot of these sterling handles are filled, so larger handles will average about 1/2 oz of silver per.

Yes, many of the handles were filled with a cement-like substance with a thin layer of metal on the outside.

 

[gilgar]

Sweet find, I keep looking but haven’t been able to score at my local goodwill .

Yeah, they normally pull out anything real good, even legos these days and put them on their auction site.

 

[gilgar]

Yes, many of the handles were filled with a cement-like substance with a thin layer of metal on the outside.

yeah, blade is stainless and handle likely filled, pure silver handles are not common at all. I found a site that gave estimates for how much silver might be in knives.