posted 10-21-2003 11:49 PM            

Hi Everyone!!

I never knew that silverplate could get into the high price ranges like Real Silver .. Until yesterday!

I just bought this item from a .. kind of junk, antique store the other day.

When I got home, I was reading the new Kovels Antiques book and discovered, to my amazement, that one of them, with four goblets, had sold at an auction in New York, in 2001 for $13,800 <-- YES .. That's Dollars 8- )

I believe that I will pay a visit to Ebay!! LOL

Brenda

posted 10-22-2003 09:46 AM            

Remember at auction all that is needed to drive up a price is for two persons with a desire and $ not to let the item go to the other person. And if both parties can afford the bidding war it can result in an extraordinary and not very typical market price.

posted 10-22-2003 10:34 AM            

Occasionally we are lucky. June and I were in Connecticut where we found a contemporary silversmith's salad set. The set is still being made and can be purchased directly from the silversmith's firm for around $1000 retail. As I said, we were lucky and purchased it for under $100.

Here in NYC, it is always amazing to see what dealers will ask for the identical set. In the NYC 26th street antique/flea market area I have seen this set selling for a few hundred dollars. What amazes us is that the further uptown you go, the higher the price. When you get into the fifties on the eastside it is possible to find dealers trying to sell the same set for $1500. Several months ago, June and I were walking by a gallery just off of 5th Ave in the sixties where we noticed the same set in the window. We went in and asked the seller how much? They looked it up and said that it was on sale for $2050.00. We were too flabbergasted to ask what it cost when it wasn't "On Sale". Last week we noticed it was still there. Given the kind of wealth that resides in that neighborhood it won't surprise us if someday someone eventually buys it.

June & I wouldn't pay more than we did because we have seen the set often and for so much less than the smith retails the set for. We don't know what the smith wholesales the set for. The dealers who are selling (asking) $1500 - $2050 still have the items. What they will eventually sell their sets for is unknown.

posted 10-22-2003 11:59 AM            

In any event, the price structure of silverplate is different from that of sterling. Frequently, plated ware is more extreme in style than comparable sterling. In US silver at least, it seems plate designers had more freedom to innovate as the product was not meant to have a long life. When the fashion for any particular design had moved on, the plated makers would have a new pattern to appeal to the trend conscious. This seems to be particularly true for the less expensive grades. One of the most striking Art Deco patterns, IMHO, is Medality/ Friendship. Which was given away by Betty Crocker.

posted 10-22-2003 01:24 PM            

I went and looked at the recently ended auctions on ebay and found this:
http://tinyurl.com/rwzp

The airplane went for about what it is valued at while .. The lighthouse went for 4,000 dollars More than its estimated value.

Also Schroeders has the 14 inch rooster valued at 4,000 dollars in his last years book. (without the glasses)(there are two sizes .. 11 and 14 1/4 inches)

I have asked the person who I bought this shaker from if he might have the glasses and he is going to look.

He had not unpacked all of his boxes, (there must be hundreds) and he will let me know.

This one had been sitting packed away in one of his old musty boxes for a few years!

It was BLACK when I bought it 8- )

As far as reproductions go .. Yes, there are but Schroeders says that they are all Easy to spot and are clearly marked as such.