experience with silver plate?

Hello everybody.

Been doing a lot of reading on here the past few months in my downtime. Also been watching a lot of you tube videos, and just reading random things. One of the things that has sparked my interest is silver plated items. I know if you can find sterling or higher rated silver items, that's clearly a better way to go. But I never seen anything but plated material when looking around thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets with my wife. Was wondering if anyone has had experience and or success with buying and reselling pieces?

Also curious to know if anyone has had any success with reverse plating via salty water and a battery tender. The videos I seem people seem to be getting about .2 - .4 grams off forks, spoons, and knives. It takes a while, and probably isn't worth the money, but I figured if you're doing it in your down time, and don't mind it, it probably isn't so bad. Not that I have enough down time to do it. Also was thinking it'd probably work better for some of them big trays if you cut them into manageable pieces. Might get more silver off of them. Plus most of it, from my understanding, is copper and brass underneath. Just add it to the heap after scraping off the silver.

This all sounds good in theory, and IF (big if) you can get the silver plate for the right price. Just wanted to see if anyone had any input before I jumped into a rabbit hole like this. I'm leaning against it, but figured I'd ask to see.

As always, thanks guys.

Before you destroy plated silverware, look the names up on Ebay.
Some of it's worth a lot of money ... Rogers, Wallace ( RW&S ), Oneida and the list goes on.

Yea I've definitely been doing a good bit of looking on there. I can never tell if people are being over zealous with their pricing, and pricing it for way more than it is worth, or if the pricing is fair.

I also know that some lines of silver plate are legitimately collectible, but it seems like everything is so arbitrary, and I'm having trouble pinning down what is worth hanging onto and what isn't. So much information out there haha

When doing a Ebay search filter it for either completed listings or sold listings. I prefer completed, because you can see both what sold at what price and what didn't sell at what price.

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Originally Posted by DKPhilly

Also curious to know if anyone has had any success with reverse plating via salty water and a battery tender. The videos I seem people seem to be getting about .2 - .4 grams off forks, spoons, and knives. It takes a while, and probably isn't worth the money, but I figured if you're doing it in your down time, and don't mind it, it probably isn't so bad. Not that I have enough down time to do it. Also was thinking it'd probably work better for some of them big trays if you cut them into manageable pieces. Might get more silver off of them. Plus most of it, from my understanding, is copper and brass underneath. Just add it to the heap after scraping off the silver.

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Ssshhhh! We don't talk about that here.

All kidding aside, I did what you are considering. Very disappointing results. I cut up about four or five large platters. Got the battery charger, the stump remover, etc., etc., etc.

Cutting the platters was a pain. In the end I have a few small BBs of recovered silver sitting in a pill bottle in a drawer here. The process is too involved and too expensive to make it worthwhile IMO. And, silver was worth about $30 an ounce when I tried it. I still have some of the Nickel base metal here too that I have no idea what to do with. Most are brass or copper.

I have never been able to resell silverplate either. Very limited interest in it.

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Originally Posted by Scrap Master J

When doing a Ebay search filter it for either completed listings or sold listings. I prefer completed, because you can see both what sold at what price and what didn't sell at what price.

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Good advice for anything you want to sell on ebay. If you just do the sold, you don't learn the difference between what sold and what didn't, and why one is worth more than another.

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Originally Posted by HipoGear

Ssshhhh! We don't talk about that here.

All kidding aside, I did what you are considering. Very disappointing results. I cut up about four or five large platters. Got the battery charger, the stump remover, etc., etc., etc.

Cutting the platters was a pain. In the end I have a few small BBs of recovered silver sitting in a pill bottle in a drawer here. The process is too involved and too expensive to make it worthwhile IMO. And, silver was worth about $30 an ounce when I tried it. I still have some of the Nickel base metal here too that I have no idea what to do with. Most are brass or copper.

I have never been able to resell silverplate either. Very limited interest in it.

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Stump remover??? I tried some bigger pieces with a battery charger without a positive result. I wound up with a bucket full of gooey slag.

As far as success with silver plate... Oh yeah. I buy for less than scrap price and scrap the item for brass or copper. I have also found sterling mixed in with the silver plate I bought for scrap brass price.

There is a buyer on here for silver plated items I think. I need to find it.

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Originally Posted by t00nces2

Stump remover??? .

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Ha ha ... yep, and it worked. It was a combo of stump remover and industrial drain cleaner. Had to make a lead anode too. Interesting project but I wouldn't do it again.

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Originally Posted by HipoGear

Ssshhhh! We don't talk about that here.

All kidding aside, I did what you are considering. Very disappointing results. I cut up about four or five large platters. Got the battery charger, the stump remover, etc., etc., etc.

Cutting the platters was a pain. In the end I have a few small BBs of recovered silver sitting in a pill bottle in a drawer here. The process is too involved and too expensive to make it worthwhile IMO. And, silver was worth about $30 an ounce when I tried it. I still have some of the Nickel base metal here too that I have no idea what to do with. Most are brass or copper.

I have never been able to resell silverplate either. Very limited interest in it.

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****. That pretty much puts a stop in my plan. The flipping community on reddit has given me similar advice. There's just so much silver plate out there, it's ridiculous :(

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll keep looking, and try to score them for brass price or lower. Clearly not worth reverse plating. If I get bored and give it a go, I'll keep yous updated.

There are quicker and better ways to make money. Many of them require that you have some to start with though. Pick a topic and do some reading here. If you can find yourself a niche, you can do well. Personally, I like auctions. The secret there is that you make your money when you buy, so buy low and don't let the fever catch you.

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Originally Posted by RLS0812

Before you destroy plated silverware, look the names up on Ebay.
Some of it's worth a lot of money ... Rogers, Wallace ( RW&S ), Oneida and the list goes on.

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Bump