How to sell silver: a step-by-step checklist

Where Can I Sell Silver is an independent referral service, not a buyer, pawnshop or dealer. When you call or send the form, your details go to an independent buyer in New York who makes any offer.

Before you ask anyone: at home

1. Gather everything in one place. Flatware, hollowware, jewelry, bars, coins, and anything you are not sure about.
2. Sort by kind. Bullion, sterling tableware, jewelry and scrap, coins, and possible plate each go in their own group.
3. Read the marks. ‘925’, ‘Sterling’, ‘Ster.’ or ‘Solid silver’ mean at least 92.5% silver; ‘900’ or ‘Coin’ at least 90%; ‘.999’ is fine silver. The guide to sterling silver hallmarks shows where to look.
4. Set aside plate and unmarked pieces. Plated pieces must not be stamped sterling or coin under federal law. See is silver plated worth anything.
5. Pull out anything special. Coins in fine condition, signed designer jewelry, complete flatware sets. These may be worth more than their metal.
6. Weigh each group. Use grams if you can, and divide by 31.10348 for troy ounces. Leave steel-bladed knives and weighted candlesticks out of the sterling weight.
7. Work out melt value. Troy ounces x fineness x the day’s spot price. The silver melt value guide shows the method.
8. Photograph the marks. Good light, close up. A buyer may ask for photos.
9. Do not clean, polish or cut anything. Tarnish does not stop a sale.

Choosing who to ask

Each kind of silver suits some buyers better than others. Bullion is worth asking bullion dealers and coin shops about; collectible coins, coin dealers; mixed sterling and jewelry, precious metal buyers; large scrap lots, refiners; complete sets and fine hollowware, estate dealers as well. The silver buyers page explains each. For anything substantial, plan to ask more than one.

When you call or send the form

• Say what you have, group by group, with the marks and rough weights.
• Mention anything you set aside as possibly special.
• Ask how the buyer prices each kind: by weight and fineness, or as collectibles.
• Ask which unit they quote in: grams, pennyweights or troy ounces.
• Ask how payment works, and when.
• Ask what you should bring.

What to bring to the sale

• Official ID. In New York City a licensed buyer must record its type and number, and you sign in front of the buyer. A copy of an ID is not enough.
• The silver, sorted as you sorted it at home, with special pieces kept apart.
• Your notes: the marks, your weights and your melt figure for each group.
• Packaging and paperwork for bullion and coins: boxes, assay cards, receipts.
• A way to take notes, so you can write down each offer.

Buyers in New York City cannot buy from minors, so the person selling must not be one.

At the counter

1. Look for the license. In New York City, a DCWP Secondhand Dealer license should be posted where you can see it.
2. Watch the weighing. In the city, the buyer must weigh precious metal on an approved scale reading to 0.01 troy ounce or finer and tell you the troy weight.
3. Ask what is being counted. Which pieces are counted as sterling, which as plate, and how weighted pieces are treated.
4. Ask for the offer in writing, with the weight and fineness for each group.
5. Compare it with your melt figure. An offer below melt is normal, because the buyer pays to refine the metal and needs a margin. Ask how the figure was reached.
6. Take time if you want it. A fair offer survives a night’s thought.
7. Make sure it is a sale, not a loan. Lending against goods is pawnbroking, which needs a separate license in the city.

After the sale

• Keep the receipt. It should list what you sold and the price; in New York City it should carry the buyer’s DCWP license number.
• Note the details: date, buyer, items, weights and how you were paid.
• Know the hold. In the city, a buyer cannot resell used items, jewelry included, within 15 days of buying them.
• Keep any special pieces you did not sell with a note of what you were told about them.

How much silver can I sell without reporting it?

This is one of the questions people ask most, and the honest answer has two parts. First, reporting by the dealer: the IRS instructions for Form 1099-B say a sale of precious metal in a form the CFTC has not approved for regulated futures trading is not reportable by the broker, and even for an approved form, a sale smaller than the minimum quantity of an approved contract is not reportable. In plain words, some larger sales of certain bullion coins and bars may be reported by the dealer on Form 1099-B; most small sales of jewelry, sterling and single coins are not.

Second, your own taxes, which are a separate matter from what a dealer reports. A profit on coins and other collectibles may be taxed as a capital gain, at a maximum federal rate of 28% for collectibles (IRS Topic 409). Ask a tax professional about your own sale.

Selling silver from an estate

Clearing a parent’s or grandparent’s house often turns up more silver than anyone expected, spread across drawers, sideboards and boxes. The same checklist applies, with three additions. First, take your time: sort the whole house before you sell any of it, so nothing is sold before you know what else is there. Second, if several family members share the estate, agree who decides before anyone sells, and keep the list of what was sold and for how much where everyone can see it. Third, look in the less obvious places: dressing tables, desk drawers, display cabinets and the backs of cupboards, where small sterling pieces such as napkin rings, frames and baby cups tend to hide.

If the estate is large or includes antiques, it can be worth asking an estate dealer as well as a precious metal buyer, because some pieces may be worth more as objects than as metal.

Common mistakes when selling silver

• Selling everything as one mixed lot, so nothing can be checked.
• Counting knife and candlestick weight as silver.
• Polishing coins or antique pieces before selling them.
• Taking the first offer without a weight and fineness on it.
• Selling a collectible coin or a signed piece by weight without asking about it.
• Treating an insurance appraisal as an offer. It states replacement value, not what a buyer pays.

For how value is worked out and how to judge an offer in detail, read sell silver. For the city’s rules, read sell silver NYC.

Questions people ask