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Need help determining sterling silver value....

PeacemanPeaceman Posts: 5,098
in Precious Metals
I tried the internet conversion websites but none seem to help me with 75.1% pure sterling silver. I have a pretty old Coffee pot made by Gorham that is stamped "Sterling 751 3 1/4 pint" I believe it to contain about 30.15 troy oz. Besides the collecting end of it, I was wondering was the melt on this was..... Thanks for any help. Peaceman.

Comments

  • dontippetdontippet Posts: 2,609 ✭✭✭✭
    30.15 x 29.68 (spot) x .751 = $672.03 melt value
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  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231 ✭
    Sterling by definition is .925 or 92.5% silver in composition. What you have is not sterling.
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Whoa. Hold up. Sterling is by definition 92.5% pure.

    It's not often that my beliefs are challenged ( image ), but if your pot is indeed 75% pure, it's the first time in 30 years of buying and selling scrap that I've ever encountered something marked "sterling" and "751" as an indication of purity. I am almost positive that 751 is just Gorham's stock number.

    Silver comes in all sorts of purities. Coin silver, german silver, triple nine, fine. But sterling means sterling means 92.5% pure and has meant 92.5% pure for nearly 1,000 years.

    I just googled your description, is that your piece listed on eBay? # 260716114734?

    If that is your piece on eBay, or if your piece is marked similarly, the hallmarks apparently mean it was made in the 20th century.

    I suspect the 3 1/4 pint is the size of the vessel.

    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Day late and a dollar short image
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • PeacemanPeaceman Posts: 5,098
    What do you make of this and the levels of refinement......

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_hallmarks
  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231 ✭


    << <i>Day late and a dollar short image >>




    Actually, your post is far more accurate than mine Weiss. While I say that what he has is not sterling is probably incorrect. It should say that what he has is not .751 fine.
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>What do you make of this and the levels of refinement......

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_hallmarks >>



    Just what I said: Silver can be in various levels of purity. That's the purpose of a hallmark--to attest to that level.

    But if something is marked "sterling", in particular if an American piece is marked "sterling", it means it is 92.5% pure silver. Though as the article indicates, France apparently has a slightly higher standard pf purity for what it refers to as "sterling": 95%
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • PeacemanPeaceman Posts: 5,098
    So then this would be correct..... ??

    30.15 x 29.68 (spot) x .751 = $672.03 melt value

  • gecko109gecko109 Posts: 8,231 ✭


    << <i>So then this would be correct..... ??

    30.15 x 29.68 (spot) x .751 = $672.03 melt value >>





    30.15 x 29.68 x .925 = $827.74 melt value
  • DennisHDennisH Posts: 13,995 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There may be a big "except" here. I've been assured by several 90% wholesale coin buyers that 92.5% sterling actually brings less than 90% coins... which I am totally unable to understand. Perhaps someone who has actually sold sterling, or who buys it for scrapping, can comment?
    When in doubt, don't.
  • AmigoAmigo Posts: 966 ✭

    Dennis I hope this helps. Although it's been a long day and I'm a little brain dead right now.

    90% silver coin is traded in it's present form for the most part. Therefore it's a commodity all its' own. If it was actually melted down at today's premiums, you would be paid less for it because of the smelting costs. There were even greater premuims attached to 90% silver during a period of the great 79/80 bull metals market. Although some of it was melted in a "had to" type situation to make good on contracts etc. The point is though, that there is no smelting costs involved in trading silver, hence a higher price can be paid for it.

    92.5% Sterling is a foreign concept in this country in so far as liquididy. In Europe it's much more liquid. In this country, people generally want pure .999 silver, or 90% coins simply because that's what we have become used to. Sterling is worth less on the resale market because if it doesn't sell on the collectibles market, then it's worth Silver value. Problem is, Silver value is what a Refinery can get out of it.
    There is a very real and definite cost in having Sterling smelted. Smelting/refining fees and a percentage of silver that is lost in the refining process. A Refinery can "loose" anywhere from 1 - 5% silver or more depending upon there honesty, and ability.

    I hope this helps
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,326 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Silver comes in all sorts of purities. Coin silver, german silver, triple nine, fine. >>



    German silver doesn't have any silver in it. It's a silver colored alloy but contains no actual silver.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • OffMetalOffMetal Posts: 1,684 ✭
    I believe that 751 is the pattern number of your coffee pot.

    Gorham is a very old and reputable silversmith company which I believe started in the first half of the 19th century. The quality of silver should be around .925, if not .925.

    Ben
    -Ben T. * Collector of Errors! * Proud member of the CUFYNA
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Silver comes in all sorts of purities. Coin silver, german silver, triple nine, fine. >>



    German silver doesn't have any silver in it. It's a silver colored alloy but contains no actual silver. >>



    Absolutely correct. I apologize for the incorrect term. I was thinking of the .800 fine standard that was popular in the area around Germany. German silver contains zero silver.
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • OPAOPA Posts: 17,126 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just to reiterate what's been said:

    German silver has a color resembling silver, but is an alloy of primarily copper, nickel and zinc w/o any silver.
    "Bongo drive 1984 Lincoln that looks like old coin dug from ground."
  • taxmadtaxmad Posts: 985 ✭✭✭✭
    I just sold a bunch of sterling silver plates used in jewelry making. $18/oz.

    18/.925=19.46 per ounce of silver

    19.46/30=64.86% of melt
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