Antique dealer Adam Zimmerman explains why high silver prices are pushing dealers to melt down heavy pieces like Mexican centerpieces and Austro-Hungarian items instead of selling them as collectibles. Lightweight pieces, work by makers like Buccellati, and items with strong collectible value get spared.
The price of silver is so high right now that many beautiful antique silver pieces are getting destroyed and melted. So I'm gonna go over a few examples today of some items that I will probably melt and some other examples that I would say don't melt. So first, I'm gonna start off with this Mexican piece. So this is a silver piece, centerpiece, and this piece is over $2,000 in metal. So unfortunately, it's so heavy, it's the piece that I would probably melt. Over here, these pieces are over 150 years old. They're Austro-Hungarian pieces, and they have a hallmark that shows that. These pieces are over $1,000, closer to $1,200 in silver. So these pieces unfortunately will likely get melted because I don't have customers pay higher than that. This is Tiffany silver. Now this piece here has initials on it, which definitely isn't the greatest thing. Even though it's Tiffany, this is borderline. It might get melted into this. And funny enough, it's very close to the equivalent. This is about 11 ounces and this is 10 ounces, so it's about the same thing, close to $700 in today's market. Now this over here is an old cigar— cigarette or cigar holder. Now, this is $400 in silver. So this piece, unfortunately, we don't have smokers like we used to, so this piece will likely be melted. Over here, and this is the toughest one and kind of the borderline one, this is another Tiffany silver piece. These are Tiffany silver flatware set. This is one place setting, place setting. But this is a service for 12. So a service for 12 is very close to $6,000 in today's market, possibly more, in just metal. So because of the initial here, which definitely again is not a good thing unless you have someone with a D, this piece or this set will likely be melted as well. Now, if you're going to melt this and you have to tell your parent or grandparent, it might be a better idea just to give them the $6,000 Rather than to tell them it would get melted because it might hurt their feelings a little bit. But of course, that's up to you when you tell them. Now over here, we're going to go over a few exceptions to the rule. This over here is Russian silver enamel. So usually on these pieces, you're going to see an 84 hallmark, and that is a good sign that it's 19th century Russian. So this piece. is only a little bit of metal value. So a piece like this, 0.66, so it's a little bit more than half an ounce. So it's about $45 in silver, and it's probably worth a few hundred. So this is a piece that you could probably sell and get some good money. I would not melt that. Same thing with this. Any pieces that are gonna be a little bit on the lighter side that you could probably get more for without melting it. This piece is probably $100 to $200, and it's only about $75 in metal. This over here is another Tiffany piece, but because it's so light, again, a half ounce, it might be better to keep this piece and not melt it. Now, because of a lot of the market right now, almost everything heavy gets melted. The exception is if you have a huge centerpiece, maybe double or triple the size of this, there is a market for it and there is premiums for it. Because there are people who want to go really big. So those people will like those things and you get a premium for that. Other things might be something with a big name like Buccellati or possibly George Jensen. But even with those pieces, they're going less ornate and more modern. So keep that in mind. And I want to be clear, I don't love melting these things. It kind of is tough. I'm an antique dealer first. However, with silver prices so high, it's very hard to sell these things for a premium. Please subscribe so you don't miss any future videos.
