Flatware: Do Pawn Shops Buy Silver Plated

Sarah’s heart sank. "But it's so heavy! And it looks exactly like the expensive stuff."

She hauled the box into the local pawn shop, letting it hit the counter with a satisfying thud . do pawn shops buy silver plated flatware

The pawnbroker didn't look impressed. He pulled out a single fork and turned it over. He didn't even reach for his testing kit. "It’s a beautiful set," he said, "but it's ." Sarah’s heart sank

"Not quite," he replied. "While most pawn shops pass on it, a few might pay about just for the base metal scrap. Your best bet is an antique dealer who might want the pattern, or selling it yourself to someone who needs a replacement piece for their own set." The pawnbroker didn't look impressed

"I'd like to sell this," she told the man behind the glass. "It’s solid silver."

"That’s the base metal," he explained. "Most pawn shops won't buy silver-plated flatware. We look for the word or the number '925' stamped on the back. Sterling is 92.5% pure silver and has 'melt value.' Your set is mostly copper or nickel with a silver coating thinner than a human hair. It’s impossible for us to extract that silver profitably." "So it's worthless?"

Sarah found it in the back of her grandmother’s attic: a velvet-lined mahogany chest, heavy enough to make her arms ache. Inside sat a gleaming 50-piece set of ornate flatware. She had seen "sterling silver" prices online and imagined the chest was a down payment on her new car.