Why isn't my sterling flatware worth closer to 92.5 percent of spot silver when I go to sell it?

GREG ARBUTINE
Sep 25, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Mar 5

Why isn't my sterling flatware worth closer to 92.5 percent of spot silver when I go to sell it?

When I contacted several stores to sell my sterling silver flatware which is 92.5% silver and I was expecting to get an offer close to Spot Silver less 7.5% and unfortunately the offers were far below that. With my pure silver .999 coins and bullion I get pretty close to spot silver price when I go to sell. Why not more on sterling silver flatware?

Sterling silver flatware is not easy to trade like how silver bullion coins and bars are. When you have a .999 fine bar or coin you can take it to any coin shop in the country and get maybe 3-5% below the spot silver price depending on the bar and coin. The dealer can then immediately sell the coins or bars to either their retail customers or large distributing wholesalers. These bullion pieces trade almost as easily as currency.

Unfortunately, with sterling silver flatware it can not be traded instantly. Assuming the flatware is just a scrap pattern with no antique resale value, the flatware needs to be first refined at the refinery and then converted into easily tradable coins or bars. The cost of the refining service is not cheap and also needs to be done in very large batches in order to make it cost efficient. A dealer buying scrap flatware patterns will have to tie up a lot of money for weeks or months at a time which is a substantial tangible carrying cost of business. Plus, the refinery can charge between 6-8% for their fees. On top of this, the dealer needs to make a little extra profit for all their extra time and extra expense involved in making this all happen.

Most coin shops, antique stores or jewelers that handle buying precious metals will typically have to pay around 70-72% of spot silver when buying sterling silverware. That is almost a 20 point spread compared to a 3-5 point spread on bullion coins. However, the dealer only receives around 8-10 points net in the end. The refinery takes their cut and the business has to incur expenses like additional employee handling time and extra inventory carrying costs. Even though it looks like the buyers of scrap sterling flatware out there are making a big profit margin, it just ends up not being the case.

Conclusion: Scrap Sterling Flatware Patterns are not as easily tradable as common .999 coins and bullion. Have a more realistic expectation when you are trying to dispose of your sterling flatware. You will not be paid as high a rate as you would with coins and silver bullion due to the extra step of the dealer having to convert the scrap .925 flatware to .999 refined bars or coins, which costs them a lot of extra money in order to do so.

3-6-26 Update: The current rate to expect to receive now on scrap flatware patterns is around 50-55% of Spot Silver, not the 70-72% that used to be the going rate. The reason is because silver skyrocketed up 4 times in 6 months and that all the U.S. gold and silver refineries have stopped production on refining silver in favor of getting caught up on their gold refining which is much more lucrative to them. As a result most coin, pawn, jewelry stores and antique shops have no where to go to sell scrap flatware (for now.) They either have to stop buying silver altogether or buy at a cut rate and plan to hold their silver purchases for 6-12 months until the refineries resume normal operations. The cut rate reflects the dealer's additional carrying cost and potentially having to liquidate the silver to private buyers who are paying far less than what the refineries used to pay. All of us in the industry are hoping and praying that the refineries resume normal operations and that the rates go back to their traditional percentages. As a seller looking to sell your scrap flatware, you need to decide if you want to sell at the cut rat or hold on for another year. However, a year from now silver could possibly be at half its current price. So even if you take 55% of spot versus the traditional 70%, it could end up still being the right choice. What will happen in the future is anyone's guess. Best of luck in evaluating how to proceed forward.

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Greg Arbutine

Silver Museum Owner