Sterling Silver Calculator

What does 925 actually mean?

A 925 stamp means the piece is 92.5% pure silver alloyed with 7.5% other metal, usually copper, for hardness. That ratio is the legal definition of sterling and it has not changed in centuries, so every sterling piece on earth carries the same silver fraction. Silver spot right now: — per troy ounce, and a troy ounce is 31.1035 grams. Those are the only inputs: weight × 0.925 ÷ 31.1035 × spot is the melt value of any sterling piece.

Look for the marks 925, STERLING, STER, or on English pieces the lion passant hallmark. A piece marked EPNS, EP, "silver plate" or "silverplate" is plated base metal, not sterling, and carries no meaningful silver value however heavy it is. An unmarked piece is not necessarily plate: marks wear off and much early American coin silver was never stamped, which is exactly what a two-minute XRF reading at the counter settles without marking the piece.

What does sterling flatware usually weigh?

Most sterling sellers are weighing a flatware drawer, so here is what common pieces typically weigh and what that weight is worth in silver at the live price. Patterns vary, so treat the weights as a starting range and your own kitchen scale as the better answer.

The per-gram figure, if you would rather run your own scale readings: sterling silver is worth — per gram at the live price. Multiply that by what your scale shows for solid sterling pieces and you have the drawer's melt floor.

Why is my heavy candlestick worth less than the calculator says?

Because most sterling candlesticks, trophies, and knife handles are weighted: a thin sterling skin over a filling of pitch or cement that provides the heft. A weighted candlestick that reads 700 grams on your scale may hold under 100 grams of actual silver. Pieces sold as weighted are usually marked WEIGHTED, REINFORCED or CEMENT FILLED near the 925 stamp, and hollow-handle knives are weighted by construction even when unmarked.

This is why a gross-weight calculation overstates a drawer that includes knives and why an honest counter separates solid pieces from weighted ones before anything is priced. At our counters the two groups are weighed and quoted separately, in front of you, so the solid spoons are never dragged down to knife-handle arithmetic and the weighted pieces are priced on the silver they actually contain.

One more separation worth making at home: anything by a notable maker, and early or unusual patterns, can be worth more intact than melted. We check maker's marks against collector demand before quoting melt and offer the higher of the two values, so bring the whole drawer rather than the pieces you have pre-judged.

Is the calculator figure what I will be paid?

The melt value is the reference floor, and every real buyer works below it by a margin that covers refining, testing and the business itself. What separates buyers is the size of that margin and whether the arithmetic happens where you can see it. A buyer who quotes one lump sum for an unsorted drawer, will not name the spot price they are working from, or weighs hollow-handle knives in with the spoons is making the margin invisible on purpose.

At our 8 Central New Jersey counters the scale faces you, the XRF purity reading appears on a screen you can see, and the offer is built as weight times purity times the live price, group by group. The appraisal is free whether you sell or not, and nothing expires while you compare us with anyone else.

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