Forums Forums For Sale - Items Inherited a stack of antique silver

Hi Guys, I've (as the title suggests) inherited a stack of silver. Of course, I'm wary of getting ripped off. What do I know about precious metals....not much!

Does anybody know where I can get a fair price for all of this stuff?

Any help appreciated!

hi my advice is be very careful,the problem with so called experts they only give you scrap value good luck

If you think it is valuable it may be worth popping along to Sotheby's in Chester. I believe reputable auction houses give the least biased opinion. They will also advise how to auction it eg specialist dates for the stuff you are auctioning. They may charge for full valuations but will often give you a good idea if your silverware is run of the mill or not.

In reality, very little silverware (even old stuff) is worth much more than its weight when selling to a dealer, silverware is a very slow selling commodity apart from a few sought after items.

If you are selling by weight then the old small stall in Birkenhead market gave the best rate that I could find, he may add a bit for interesting items.

Don't assume damaged items are worthless, sometimes even badly damaged items have a good value due to demand for that particular item.

Edit: Just noticed that Bonhams do free valuations, so perhaps Sothebys do as well.

Thanks guys, off to Chester I go!!

Sotheby's usually do free valuations, although you sometimes have to book in advance.

I remember MANY years ago my parents had moved a load of old pictures into one of the outhouses and when we ran out of kindling for the fire my dad said just to break one of them up. I did the first one and then we noticed that there was an artists name in the corner, thought nothing of it but the name seemed familiar so just used that one and next time he was in Chester took them down to see if they were worth anything.

Most expensive firelighter ever, I think the remaining ones sold for about £7k each, and that was about 30 years ago