posted 07-04-2007 10:29 AM            

online auctions and scrap value

I have heard dealers say that they can't sell the stuff either and end up scrapping it.

Is this a loss? Does it matter?
Any thoughts?

posted 07-10-2007 11:03 PM            

Amen, Dale,.. With silver prices up, fully 1/3 of my business comes from scrap. The upside of it, is that I get to rescue all sorts of underappreciated items, such as beakers, baby cups, salvers, and last week, a "Stone" bowl.

The downside is I can't rescue it all. I finally had to scrap 88 pieces of 1830's era (10.15 mark) Mayflower pattern by Kirk that I have carried for 4 years. I like the pattern!.. Why doesn't it sell!.. ?

Maybe it was the 3 letter script monogram? Maybe the pattern was worn a little to much. Maybe it just wasn't Old Maryland Engraved. I think we can say it was recycled.

Marc

posted 07-12-2007 09:21 PM            

The good thing is the set consisted of spoons, spoons, spoons, worn forks, and, oh yes, spoons. No knives were harmed (there were none), and both the gravy and mustard ladles were auctioned off.

So it's not as if I killed Cinderella.. just her ugly stepsisters!

Feel better?

posted 07-14-2007 08:07 AM            

I started out as a penny ante collector and mostly still am except that now I sometimes get to splurge on nicer pieces. I might never have developed an interest in silver though without the availability of orphan flatware sold by the piece for the amount of money I could squeeze out of the household operating expenses.

As a result I tend to think of all those spoons as lost opportunities for someone else to discover the joys of collecting. But bascall knocks the legs out from under my argument with his observation that his pieces sell better as scrap lots than individually.

posted 07-14-2007 12:46 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by rian:
Bascall knocks the legs out from under my argument with his observation that his pieces sell better as scrap lots than individually.

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There's no question that people that buy scrap lots, myself included, see somethings in a lot that look interesting. It just helps the price go up. We're treasure hunting at the same time we're doing away with items that are of no use to us. This as much as anything explains why scrap lots can do alright when sold as a lot rather than trying to deal with one piece at a time. Not every piece of silver can ever be expected to remain in its original form forever. From what I've read the British royalty up until the first part of the nineteenth century regularly had there fine silver melted down to have items made in the latest fashions, and large scale collecting of 18th century and earlier silver articles did not begin until the middle of the nineteenth century. This probably doesn't make you feel much better but hopefully no worse. Thank you for your comment, Pat

posted 07-16-2007 09:02 AM            

Is this a loss? Does it matter? Any thoughts?" Vathek.....

As a matter of discussion, the intrinsic value of silver has been rising (at least in USD) to a point where the art value, in some pieces, is being overtaken by it.

As an example, a set of 'Sea Rose' (not a popular pattern) which was purchased for $$$ four years ago, would have been sold to the public for $$$+ 25%. No one wanted it for that price.. Time passed and scrap value actually increased to $$$ + 50%. Now, if there was no action on this pattern for the 4 years at the old price, what makes me think it will sell at a higher price. Well, it will, but it means selling it for scrap.

Also, in this business climate, where sales are a little slow for the middle and bottom range of goods, those of us who use our inventory as our savings accounts, find that it is an excellent time to sell (scrap) the bottom 10% and reinvest the money in more high end stock.

Is this a loss?.. No. I will say that most of us, as collectors, know who gets the "scrap", and visit them regularly. If you collect American coin silver there is very good pickings, because folks out there still think a piece has to be marked "STERLING" to be worth much. And for those of us who like the 'Upper Crust' of sterling, weird servers in Shiebler or Chantilly, or Repousse or Violet surface regularly.

If you love British and European silver, you are in hog heaven. Scrap dealers may know that a piece is silver, but they generally have no idea of values or age. Have you ever purchased an 18th c. marrow scoop for weight?...Or a double handful of 18th c. coin? It still happens, more often than you would think.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Thanks..

posted 08-01-2007 12:44 AM            

About 20 years ago, my [ex] wife and I would haunt dealers and pawn shops, buying odd sterling flatware—usually for around $2 or $3 a piece. Over time we put together a whole bunch of mismatched place settings. At dinner parties, which we used to throw every few months [those were the good old days] everyone had mismatched knives, forks and spoons.

What a great ice breaker. People traded salad forks with someone across the table to complete their set, etc. And, best of all, we inoculated a whole bunch of people as silver collectors.

Someone told me just recently that mismatched sterling place settings at a dinner was recommended by none other than Martha Stewart.

I still have a few pieces from the 50s and 60s that are atrocious patterns (like Towle's Southwind) that I should scrap, but maybe one day I'll have another dinner party...