Silver?

[Lefty bullseye shooter]

So in a previous thread I got a bunch (17#'s if you can call that a bunch) of antique pewter. A couple pieces were modern pewter and stamped national something if I remember correctly. Kept the pot around 450. All but two pieces melted. Most of what i had was haulmarked quadrupleplate. It melted at 450 no problem but you could tell the plating was floating to the top. Reduced with wax and was left with a flaky dross. Had the idea it should be silver right? I put the dross in the end of one of dcrocket's ingot molds and elevated one end. I then attacked the dross with a MAP gas torch. After getting the pile of dross REALLY hot i started to see cherry red little balls forming. I then kinda pushed them to the bottom of the mold and kept heating the pile getting more little balls of molten cherry red metal to form out of the pile of dross chips. the picture is what i ended up with after multiple heatings and cleanings. I THINK its silver. Its quite hard and feels silky. The piece weighs 5.5 ounces. Cant wait to have it analyzed to see if im right.

[MarkK]

Nice. I’ll bet it is silver.

[Traffer]

Yay Silver! Every time I look at pewter I am secretly hoping it is silver. No joy yet.

[JimB..]

Being cheap I’d determine the density and see if it’s close to silver before paying to have it analyzed.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Suspend it from a sensitive scale, with the thread taking up the minimum volume. (A human hair superglued on is perfect.) Suspend it in water. The dry weight divided by the difference between dry and immersed weights is the specific gravity.

if it was electroplated, what you have would be virtually pure silver, with a specific gravity of 10.49. If it was the process we would call Sheffield plate, silver and base metal sheet hot-rolled together, it would probably be sterling silver, marginally lighter but clearly distinguished from the brasses, cupro-nickel etc., which shouldn't be much over 8.

[jcren]

If it is silver, that's about $100 you are holding. Nice way to recoup some cost!

[William Yanda]

I was hoping to hear that the silver was incorporated into the alloy.

[JMax]

Lead Pb melts at 621.4F, Tin Sn melts at 449.1F and silver melts at 1,763F so it would glow red when melting. Borax is a good flux for silver.

[bangerjim]

Bulk "home brew" melted un-stamped/un-assayed silver ingots are worth only a fraction of the spot market price of pure silver you see on-line in the commodities listings. Selling it will probably be a really difficult process. And it will have to be 99.99% pure to be considered bullion. That is why we silver investors only buy only certified mint coins and assayed & stamped bars.....and do not try to render silver ingots from plated or solid pieces of flatware/jewelry/ornaments. All the solid silver antique items I have in my collection are worth FAR more than the small price of the silver in them due.

Nice paperweight and some bragging rights, though. And you can always cast "evil-killing" silver boolits out of it!

Good luck.

banger

[lightman]

I once cast a Lyman ingot from the silver in electrical contacts. I doubt that I could even give it away. It looks cool though!

[MaryB]

One quick test is take a small super strong magnet(neodymium), tilt the piece at 45 degrees and let the magnet slide down it. If it slides really slow it might be silver. Some other alloys exhibit that also but I doubt they would be used with pewter... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetism it is a quick and easy test I use at flea markets if I am buying silver coins. I have a magnet from an old cell phone holster in my wallet.

[john.k]

Silver in any form is valuable to anyone who does much silver soldering.......I have gone thru all my childhood coin collection,broken bits of sterling,electric contacts and what have you trying to avoid the exorbitant prices charged for the brand stuff.Its quite easy to work,and a big piece like that can be hammered out into sheet,then cut into wires.Mix 50/50 with copper wire,or my favorite is to use cartrige brass in the mix.This has everything you need ......you cant get cadmium anymore (easily) so the higher melt point is not an issue.

[Traffer]

If there are those who think that there is no value in silver unless it is stamped, you can send it to me. I will send you an self stamped box to put it in.

[bangerjim]

If there are those who think that there is no value in silver unless it is stamped, you can send it to me. I will send you an self stamped box to put it in.

NOT no value. But selling it on the precious metals market will not happen easily!!!!!!!!! Hear me now and believe me later...........precious metal dealers ONLY deal in certified assayed stamped metal bullion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I will give you $3 (avdoir) a pound unseeen. That is about all it is worth if un-assayed/stamped/certified.


Period.

Banger

[maxreloader]

I once cast a Lyman ingot from the silver in electrical contacts. I doubt that I could even give it away. It looks cool though!

Id take it!

[JSnover]

Precious metals are always worth more in wrought form (jewelry, coins, stamped/assayed bars): Anything is better than a homemade ingot. I have a 1964 quarter in near mint condition (back when they were silver) As a coin it's worth around $40, maybe. If I melt it down I probably couldn't get $5 for it.

[baogongmeo]

There are reputable businesses that buy precious metal scrap... some buy gold plated eye glass frames and old cell phones buy the pound. They buy items that metal detectorists dig out of the ground and beach sand. I have no doubt that they would buy your ingot if it contains silver and I imagine that they'll pay you much closer to fair market value. Phone one of them and tell them what you have and see what they say and you'll probably hear much better sounding numbers than what you've been hearing on here.
Go to Treasurenet and ask those guys what you should do.

[Lefty bullseye shooter]

I called and talked to a jewelry store that popped up on an internet search of gold/silver buyers. Told her what I did and what I thought I had. She said they could test it and that she would give me $40-$50 for it. So $8-$10 an ounce. Not sure I really want to sell it anyway. Was just curious if it was even sellable. Kinda like having it around in case of werewolves.

A magnet does slide slowly down it so it passes that test. It may not be worth a lot but it certainly is worth more than the dross I skimmed off the pewter melt and was going to throw away.

Scott

[bangerjim]

I called and talked to a jewelry store that popped up on an internet search of gold/silver buyers. Told her what I did and what I thought I had. She said they could test it and that she would give me $40-$50 for it. So $8-$10 an ounce. Not sure I really want to sell it anyway. Was just curious if it was even sellable. Kinda like having it around in case of werewolves.

A magnet does slide slowly down it so it passes that test. It may not be worth a lot but it certainly is worth more than the dross I skimmed off the pewter melt and was going to throw away.

Scott

Like I said: a good paperwieght and an excellent conversaton piece!!!! I would just keep it and brag about having a “pure” (almost) silver paperweight!!!!!


And werewolves (and other evil beings) beware!!!!!!! Cast it into a cross and vampires will walk on the other side of the street from you.

Banger

[MaryB]

Your 64 quarter is common junk silver worth $3 or so... without a good picture I can't say what condition might add... A plain 64(no mint mark) in MS-64 condition(like from the mint, no defects at all) is listed at $12.40 right now, actual retail is usually 80% of that... a 1964d is worth maybe $1 more... https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/...s/quarters/38/

If anyone ever cleaned it it is junk silver value, take price of silver and multiply by .715 for silver content in $1 face value of silver coins. Divide by 4 for a quarter. As I type this silver is $16.96 an ounce...

Precious metals are always worth more in wrought form (jewelry, coins, stamped/assayed bars): Anything is better than a homemade ingot. I have a 1964 quarter in near mint condition (back when they were silver) As a coin it's worth around $40, maybe. If I melt it down I probably couldn't get $5 for it.