The mistake I see most often

There's a conversation I have in a lot of houses, and it usually happens before we've priced a single thing. Someone in the family has already gone through the dining room, pulled the sterling flatware and the tea service and the candlesticks, and set them aside. The thinking makes sense. They've heard that estate sales sell things cheap, and silver feels like the one thing in the house that has a known, real value, so they want to protect it. Then they take it to one of the corner shops that buys silver, get paid by weight, and assume that was the fair number.

Most of the time it isn't. And right now, with silver prices where they are, the difference matters more than it has in a while.

Where silver is right now

Silver had a huge run this year. It hit a record of roughly $121 an ounce in late January 2026, and a lot of families heard about it. By mid-October it had fallen below $60 an ounce, less than half that peak. On October 16 it traded at $57.84.

Here's what that means for sterling, which is 92.5 percent silver. At that price, a gram of sterling is worth about $1.72 in silver content. At the January high, the same gram was worth about $3.60. So if someone in the family looked up silver prices in the winter and did the math on Mom's flatware, that number is probably about twice what the silver content is worth today.

Prices move every day, so treat these as a snapshot, not a quote. The point is that expectations set in January can be badly off now, and a buyer who pays by weight is paying on today's number, not January's.

How I price silver at our sales

When we handle a sale, I price silver at that day's silver price for what it actually contains, and then a percentage more for anything with design value: a known maker or pattern, an unusual form, a piece that a collector would want as an object and not just as metal. A plain sterling serving spoon and a fine hand-chased bowl may weigh about the same, and they should not sell for the same price.

That's the part a by-weight buyer leaves out. They're paying for melt, minus their margin, and the design goes into the price they get later, not the price they pay you. In what I've seen over the years, even after our commission, families usually come out ahead by letting us price and sell the silver with the rest of the house, especially when there are pieces with real design behind them.

Not every estate sale company handles silver this way. Some do sell it cheap, or send it off in a lot. So it's a fair worry, and it's also one of the best questions you can ask when you're interviewing estate sale companies: how do you price silver, and what do you do with designer pieces? A clear answer tells you a lot.

Is it sterling, or is it silver plate?

This is the other place families get surprised, sometimes in the opposite direction. A lot of what looks like silver in a home is silver plate, which is a thin layer of silver over another metal. It can be beautiful and it can sell, but it has very little melt value, so it shouldn't be counted with the sterling.

The marks usually tell you. American sterling is typically stamped "Sterling" or "925." English sterling carries a row of small hallmarks. Plate is often marked "EPNS," "silverplate," "silver on copper," or "quadruple plate," or carries a maker's name with no sterling mark at all. If you're not sure, set it aside and let someone who handles silver every week take a look. Don't scratch or test it yourself.

That doesn't mean plate is worthless. A good plated tea service, a pretty tray, a set of serving pieces that someone will actually use for the holidays, all of that sells at estate sales, and some of it sells well. It just sells as a useful or decorative object, priced on what it is and how it looks, not on silver weight. Where families get hurt is in either direction: assuming a plated service is worth a fortune because it's shiny and heavy, or tossing a box of "old silverware" that turns out to have sterling mixed in with the plate. Both happen more often than you'd think, which is another reason to let the sorting happen piece by piece instead of all at once.

Weighted silver: why the scale lies

[Insert weighted candlestick image here]

This one catches almost everyone. Many sterling candlesticks, candy dishes, compotes, salt and pepper shakers, and trophies are weighted. The silver is a thin shell, and the base is filled with something heavy to make it stable: cement, plaster, pitch, wax, lead, or copper. Hollow-handle knives work the same way. The handle is sterling, but it's hollow and filled, and the blade is usually steel.

So if you put a pair of weighted candlesticks on a scale and multiply by the silver price, the number will be far too high, because most of that weight isn't silver. Weighted pieces are often marked "Weighted," "Reinforced," or "Cement filled" near the sterling mark, though not always. The weight has to be calculated a different way, by estimating the silver in the shell and looking at what similar weighted pieces actually sell for, and the design still counts. A good weighted pair can sell well as an object even when the silver content is modest.

What adds value beyond the metal

When I'm going through a family's silver, the question I'm really asking is whether a piece is worth more as an object than as metal. A lot of everyday flatware isn't, and that's fine. It sells at a fair price based on the day's silver value. But some pieces clearly are, and those are the ones a by-weight sale gives away.

A few things move a piece into that second group. A recognized maker or pattern is the obvious one, because collectors look for specific names and specific designs, and they'll pay for them. Handwork matters too: chased or repoussé decoration, pierced work, cast details, the kind of craftsmanship you can see when you turn a piece in the light. Unusual forms help, like serving pieces most people don't own anymore, a fish slice or an asparagus server or a sugar sifter, because they're harder to find than a dinner fork. And complete sets matter. A full service for twelve in its original chest is a different thing to a buyer than the same pattern in a mixed drawer.

None of that shows up on a scale. That's the whole reason I don't price silver by weight alone, and it's why the design premium is part of how we price every sale.

What this means if you're handling an estate or trust

If you're a trustee, an executor, or an attorney advising one, silver is worth a little extra attention. Pricing it at the day's value, separating sterling from plate, handling weighted pieces correctly, and documenting what sold and for how much gives the family and the estate a clean record. We do that as part of every sale, including our probate estate sales.

A few things to do before anyone touches the silver

If you're early in the process, here's what I'd ask a family to do, and not do, with the silver while things get sorted out.

Leave sets together. It's tempting to split flatware among relatives or pull out the pieces someone likes, but a complete set is usually worth more than its parts, so decide on the keepers before anything gets separated. Keep the boxes and chests too, including the felt-lined flatware chest, because buyers notice them.

Don't polish hard, and don't try to clean marks or remove tarnish from the bottom of pieces. Heavy polishing can wear down details and the marks themselves, and the marks are part of how a piece gets identified and priced.

Don't take anything apart. Don't pull knife blades out of their handles or try to open a weighted base to see what's inside. It doesn't tell you much, and it damages the piece.

And if you want to do something useful, take clear photos of the marks on a few pieces and send them along when you reach out to whoever is handling the sale. That one step makes the first conversation a lot more productive.

Before you take anything out of the house

My honest advice is simple. Don't pull the silver before you've talked to whoever is handling the sale, and don't sell it by weight until you know what's sterling, what's plate, and what's weighted. If you're still deciding what to keep, it helps to read what to know before you donate anything first, and when you're ready, here's how we run a full estate sale from pricing to the last day.

Wherever the house is

We handle estate silver all over Los Angeles, from the formal dining rooms of Bel Air and Westwood to the older homes of Larchmont, Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills. In the Valley we see a lot of it in Encino, Woodland Hills and Northridge, and further out in Santa Clarita.

If you're sitting on a drawer of sterling and not sure what it's really worth, I'd be glad to help. Send me a note through our contact page and I'll get back to you myself.

Key takeaways

Silver is under half its January 2026 high, so prices people heard about in the winter are likely too high today.
Don't pull the silver out before the sale and sell it by weight. Design, maker and form add value a by-weight buyer won't pay for.
At our sales, silver is priced at the day's silver price, plus more for designer or unusual pieces.
Silver plate is not sterling and has little melt value. Look for "Sterling," "925," or English hallmarks.
Weighted candlesticks, candy dishes and hollow-handle knives are filled with other material, so their full weight is not silver.
Keep sets, chests and boxes together, don't polish hard, and don't take pieces apart.
Ask any estate sale company how they price silver before you hire them.

Frequently asked questions

Should I sell my parent's silver before the estate sale? Usually not. Selling by weight to a silver buyer pays only for metal content, minus their margin. Pricing silver at the day's price, plus a premium for design and maker, and selling it with the rest of the estate often brings the family more, even after the estate sale commission.

How much is sterling silver worth right now? It changes daily. On October 16, 2026, silver traded at $57.84 an ounce, which puts sterling at about $1.72 a gram in silver content. That's less than half the late-January 2026 record of about $121 an ounce.

How can I tell sterling from silver plate? American sterling is usually marked "Sterling" or "925," and English sterling has a row of hallmarks. Silver plate is often marked "EPNS," "silverplate," "silver on copper," or "quadruple plate." Plate has very little melt value.

What is weighted sterling? Weighted pieces, like many candlesticks, candy dishes, salt and pepper shakers, and hollow-handle knives, have a thin sterling shell filled with cement, plaster, pitch, wax, lead or copper. Their full weight is not silver, so multiplying it by the silver price overstates their value.

What should I ask an estate sale company about silver? Ask how they price it (by the day's silver price or a flat number), what they do with designer or unusual pieces, and how they handle silver plate and weighted pieces. A clear answer is a good sign.

Sources: MoneyMagpie (silver price history), Fortune (October 16, 2026 silver price), MetalCharts (sterling melt values), Wikipedia and Appraisily (weighted sterling).

Before You Take the Silver Out of the House, Read This