The price of silver is going up, up, up! The first thing you expected to happen, has: The silver pieces you have been picking up at garage sales and thrift shops are harder to find. Things are still around of course... But what is left sitting out is the silver plated stuff...
Silver plated items have been gong up in value... But surprisingly, its not because silver is going up in value. Its actually because copper is going up in value.
Thats right, folks. Silver plate is usually a Copper alloy base. When people hear this, they are often taken aback... Well then, why is it white? Well that brings me to my second major point. Silver plate is also often a Nickel alloy base. So to summarize, silver plate is a mixture of Nickel and Copper, two of the most expensive metals in the scrap base metal recycling industry.
So what are the different types of silver plate?
I hope you see this as an opportunity to make some money! Usually you will need to buy some of this stuff in bulk to feel like you are getting any sort of deal. Some places, like garage sales and thrift stores, will often have this type of stuff all over the place.
Silver plated items have been gong up in value... But surprisingly, its not because silver is going up in value. Its actually because copper is going up in value.
Thats right, folks. Silver plate is usually a Copper alloy base. When people hear this, they are often taken aback... Well then, why is it white? Well that brings me to my second major point. Silver plate is also often a Nickel alloy base. So to summarize, silver plate is a mixture of Nickel and Copper, two of the most expensive metals in the scrap base metal recycling industry.
So what are the different types of silver plate?
- Pure Copper Base: This is easy to spot. hit it with a file, or hit it with a grinder really quick, and when you see that beautiful copper color, you'll know. When you come across a piece of plated silverware or something of that nature, it will usually NOT be pure copper under the silver plate because copper is too weak to be used as a utensil. It would bend and deflect too easily.
- Cupronickel: is an alloy or copper and nickel, and is german for coppernickel. (creative, I know.) Cupronickel comes in all sorts of alloys, and all types of values. 90/10 curponickel (90% copper and 10% nickel) is the most valuable but rarely found. 70/30 cupronickel is worth less, but considerably easier to find. I often find 70/30 cupronickel, and many times silver imitation (not plated) is 70/30 cupronickel. Many yards will have a separate list of cupronickel prices (often worth more than copper), and other yards buy it at brass price.
- German Silver: This is an uglier version of cupronickel, containing copper nickel, and zinc. Usually in a mixture of 60, 20, 20 respectively. This is worth brass price.
- Pure Nickel: Very rarely seen in anything modern, but more often found in old silver plated pieces. Honestly, if you find a pure nickel silver plated piece, it is likely worth much more as an antique then as scrap.
I don't know how long it takes you to respond, but I have some old silver pieces that once ground down had multiple colors. I acid tested the thing after grinding and it matched a us war nickle @ 35%. I would be interested to know how to tell if it has any nickle mixed with the silver or is that just a copper mix.
ReplyDeleteCall around to some different scrap yards, and ask if they have a XRF spectrometer/ tester. Many have hand held units that you can just "shoot" at the test specimen to see what types of metals are present.
ReplyDeleteWhen they ask you why, tell them that you are trying to determine weather or not you have a silver or nickel alloy... And that you may be willing to sell it "if the price is right", ect, ect.... Don't lead them on or anything, but make it seam like you are a willing customer. Then, after they tell you what it is made of, and what they will pay you for it, tell them that you didn't realize it contained "wow, over 30% silver, im going to keep it" or "I thought it was sterling silver, im too disappointed to sell it" ect, ect.
The bigger yards are most likely to have the XRF analyzer, as it is useful when testing specialty alloys, like Inconel, or Hastalloy.
Best of luck!