Collector silver spoons

Linlin82

I have several collectors spoons, but I'm having trouble finding them online, what do I do, also there are also some spoons that are from AL Paco Mexico that are in fact silver but not marked. Is that possible?

JBK

This is the Coin forum. You might have better luck on the Precious Metals Forum.

Pictures would be incredibly helpful.

Collectables like spoons, etc. are generally not as much in demand as they used to be. The value might be largely driven by the silver content.

As for your Mexican spoons, if they are not marked, how do you know they are silver? People who work in silver have almost always marked them in some way. The Mexican standard was not Sterling so they may be marked with a number to indicate fineness.

koynekwest

This is the only one I have. Got it off ebay. I'm not really into collector spoons but I thought this one was kinda nice.

ricko

@Linlin82.... Welcome aboard.... As suggested, try the precious metals formed. As far as non-marked silver...rare, but possible... have a jeweler check it. Cheers, RickO

JBK

That's a Pan-American Expo item, so there are collectors of that specific memorabilia. Held in Buffalo, NY (notice the buffalo on the spoon), and where President McKinley was assassinated.

Be careful cleaning it - you don't want to damage the enamel.

It's a nice one. Not sure of value but worth much more than melt.

koynekwest

Thanks! I got it because it was a Pan-Am spoon. I have a small collection of Pan-Am items and this one fits right in. I paid $40 for it and another just sold on ebay for the same amount. This is my favorite Pan-Am item-

jmlanzaf

@Linlin82 said:
I have several collectors spoons, but I'm having trouble finding them online, what do I do, also there are also some spoons that are from AL Paco Mexico that are in fact silver but not marked. Is that possible?

There are unmarked spoons if they are old enough. There's also a ton of fake stuff out there, including Mexican "silver". Caveat emptor.

jmlanzaf

@JBK said:
This is the Coin forum. You might have better luck on the Precious Metals Forum.

Pictures would be incredibly helpful.

Collectables like spoons, etc. are generally not as much in demand as they used to be. The value might be largely driven by the silver content.

As for your Mexican spoons, if they are not marked, how do you know they are silver? People who work in silver have almost always marked them in some way. The Mexican standard was not Sterling so they may be marked with a number to indicate fineness.

Most of the Mexican silver jewelry is sterling, and marked.

A lot of collector spoons, especially more modern ones, were silver plated and unmarked.

291fifth

Collector spoons ... now there is a collectible whose days of glory probably passed a century ago. The melting pot awaits with silver prices as high as they are now.

jmlanzaf

@291fifth said:
Collector spoons ... now there is a collectible whose days of glory probably passed a century ago. The melting pot awaits with silver prices as high as they are now.

Probably. But there are some really nice ones like the one @koynekwest posted. At essentially bullion prices I find them fun to pick up, especially the expo ones.

mbogoman

"Alpaca" silver is German silver. They are probably near worthless unless they are really special. They have no silver content, no precious metal value.

JBK

@jmlanzaf said:

@JBK said:
This is the Coin forum. You might have better luck on the Precious Metals Forum.

Pictures would be incredibly helpful.

Collectables like spoons, etc. are generally not as much in demand as they used to be. The value might be largely driven by the silver content.

As for your Mexican spoons, if they are not marked, how do you know they are silver? People who work in silver have almost always marked them in some way. The Mexican standard was not Sterling so they may be marked with a number to indicate fineness.

Most of the Mexican silver jewelry is sterling, and marked.

A lot of collector spoons, especially more modern ones, were silver plated and unmarked.

Thx for the clarification. I've never seen Mexican sterling silver jewelry, but then again I've seen very little Mexican jewelry.

The few pieces I have seen were older, and and marked .820 or .780 or something like that.

CoinHoarder

Picked these sterling silver marked spoons from my old coin dealer for melt back in 2007. These are the only silver spoons I own.

tommy44

asheland

Welcome to the forums.

Some souvenir spoons are better, but the vast majority are really only worth their melt value unfortunately.

291fifth

@tommy44 said:

What a sad fate for a silver Pan American Expo medal.

AUandAG

I'll buy any of my great uncle's silver spoons, all marked Blakeslee.
bob

jmlanzaf

@JBK said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@JBK said:
This is the Coin forum. You might have better luck on the Precious Metals Forum.

Pictures would be incredibly helpful.

Collectables like spoons, etc. are generally not as much in demand as they used to be. The value might be largely driven by the silver content.

As for your Mexican spoons, if they are not marked, how do you know they are silver? People who work in silver have almost always marked them in some way. The Mexican standard was not Sterling so they may be marked with a number to indicate fineness.

Most of the Mexican silver jewelry is sterling, and marked.

A lot of collector spoons, especially more modern ones, were silver plated and unmarked.

Thx for the clarification. I've never seen Mexican sterling silver jewelry, but then again I've seen very little Mexican jewelry.

The few pieces I have seen were older, and and marked .820 or .780 or something like that.

Yes, I'm not sure when they made the transition. Most of the jewelry I've seen is mid 20th century or later and tends to be sterling and marked. This site says that 20th century on tended to be sterling and marked.

http://www.silvercollection.it/mexicosilvermarksdue.html

tommy44

What a sad fate for a silver Pan American Expo medal.

I agree but whoever did it did a great job of making it look like that was it's intent

BustDMs

On advise of many here I sold my silver spoons for melt plus 10%. They were all marked EB.

vulcanize

Have only one silver spoon that I picked up from eBay for 15$ and mainly got it for putting together a set of coins, stamps and other memorabilia commemmorating the voyage of Columbus to the new world which was the theme of the very first exposition of the world.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13054852#Comment_13054852

Other than that, am very ignorant about the topic of spoons but wanted to chime in that eBay would be your best bet if you wanted to sell. All the best.