melting down sterling items for lost wax

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melting down sterling items for lost wax

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Author	Topic: melting down sterling items for lost wax
Lucinda Posts: 4 Registered: Jul 2007	posted 07-02-2007 02:04 PM Hi! I'm new to the board, and VERY new to silver work. I home school my kids, and one of my kids is interested in rocks, gem faceting, and silver work. I'm learning the silver work right now so I can help him with it later. I recently did my first lost wax piece out of silver, and was very happy with it. I have some questions, and thought you all might could help. Can I melt down pieces of old sterling silver and use them instead of having to purchase new silver at the current market rate? How do I tell if something is all sterling? Are there specific words or markings I should look for that will tell me this is something I could use? Thank you all so much for any assistance you can provide!!! Lucinda IP: Logged
FredZ Posts: 1070 Registered: Jun 99	posted 07-02-2007 03:51 PM Lucinda, You can use sterling silver items to melt in your castings. It is advised to mix in new casting grain with your scrap sterling. Us about 1/3 by weight of new alloy to 2/3 by weight of older sterling. Avoid using metal that have solder. Good luck. Carefully choose what you melt. It would be a shame to destroy something important for the sake of saving a few dollars. Sterling silver will be clearly marked STERLING. Fred [This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 07-02-2007).] IP: Logged
Lucinda Posts: 4 Registered: Jul 2007	posted 07-02-2007 06:10 PM Thanks Fred! That was a quick and nice response! So I can melt anything that says STERLING? Also, I don't know what's important and what isn't. I agree it would be a shame to destroy something nice just to save a few dollars. I'll post a picture of what I intend to melt before I melt it - any maybe you all could let me know if I shouldn't? Thanks again!! Lucinda IP: Logged
FredZ Posts: 1070 Registered: Jun 99	posted 07-02-2007 07:51 PM Lucinda, You can melt most STERLING marked items. Beware that some items may be filled with pitch or some items may have stainless blades or base metal pins in the hinges. Spoons and forks are safe bets for melting. I would stay away from knives since most have hollow handles and steel blades. Interesting thought to have someone review your melt before it is destroyed. Fred IP: Logged
Kimo Posts: 1627 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 07-03-2007 09:47 AM Definitely check before melting down an old piece of sterling silver. Many old silver objects have values that far exceed their metal content value. This forum will not tell you what the values are, but we can tell you whether it is a good idea to melt something down or not. You can also use U.S. dimes and quarters that are dated 1964 and earlier as they are made of 90 percent silver. You could also use half dollars and silver dollars as they are also made of 90 percent silver but you would want to be careful about any coins you melt down since a great many have an extra collector's value where you might get more or much more than the silver value. Find a good coin forum and ask those folks first before melting down any old silver coins. Back in the 1800s in America before the big discoveries of silver mines in the West silver was not readily available to silver smiths. Silver smiths would take old silver objects that were broken or worn or simply not wanted and throw in whatever silver coins were handy - both U.S., Spanish, British, and whatever else was around (at that point in history U.S. coins were not the only ones in general circulation in the U.S.), and throw everything into a melting pot to make new silver objects. Things made of this pot luck mix of silver are called coin silver today which simply means the purity of the silver alloy is less than the sterling standard of 92.5 percent. Some modern makers use 90 percent pure silver today to make things and they market them as coin silver. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 07-03-2007 10:23 AM At one time owners of silver would take whatever silver they had to their silversmith and have new pieces fashioned into the latest style. One reason for this in the states was simply the shortage of silver, but even in other countries that had easy access to silver, the practice of turning in your silver for the latest fashion was common and I think this practice lasted until that point in time when antiques became desired in their own right. I am not sure when this date was and it may have varied from country to country, but in the United States the idea of preserving the past certainly came into fashion after the civil war. The strength of the idea to actually save old objects because of their connection with the past has varied considerable through the years – witness all the four poster beds that have been cut down – but in general I think it is still a powerful motivation for many people. Even here however it is not always the interest in the connection of the object to the life of someone that is important - often it is simply the bottom line that the Antiques Roadshow preaches; i.e., what is it worth today in dollars. Your goal of trying to save the old pieces of value is certainly commendable, but I would urge you not to just base this on dollar value as that is just one of many factors to consider. IP: Logged
Lucinda Posts: 4 Registered: Jul 2007	posted 07-03-2007 11:39 AM Wow! Thank you all for your time and your information! I've got a piece of silver - a bon-bon dish coming in the mail that I'm wanting to melt -I'll post some pictures of it when it arrives and you all can let me know what you think. I don't want to destroy something important just for the metal. I had picked out some spoons last week and they were sold to me as solid sterling - but when I started looking them up on-line, I discovered they were silver plate. After some discussion with the dealer, this dish is what I ended up with. That's why I've come to you all - because I'm really totally ignorant of all this - and I so much appreciate your input!! Lucinda IP: Logged
tmockait Posts: 963 Registered: Jul 2004	posted 07-03-2007 04:47 PM Since you are home-scholing your kids, you might expand this teaching opportunity to discuss why silver is marked. Beginning as early as the 14th century in England (and perhaps much earlier - see discussion threads on this issue in the forum), people stored wealth as silver as table and other items, melting them down when they needed hard cash. The government had to make sure of the silver content, so they mandated a marking system and appointed royal assayers to verify and stamp silver items. Try searching on the British forum and you will find quite a lot of info. Good luck, Tom IP: Logged
Lucinda Posts: 4 Registered: Jul 2007	posted 07-05-2007 12:32 PM Thanks Tom! I appreciate the suggestion, and will be sure to do that. We're always looking for interesting things like that to add - and things in English history are some of our favorites! Lucinda IP: Logged

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