Where to sell gold plated flatware?
I have a 51 piece 24K gold plated flatware set that is supposed to contain 63 pieces (I’m missing 12 salad forks.) If it were a full set, it’s only going for about $50 on E-Bay. It is not marked 24K, but the certificate included with the set states they guarantee it to be so. So let’s just assume this to be true. Would I be better off to sell this online for $40 or $50 or sell it as gold scrap? Thanks. - Mark in Las Vegas, Nevada
Gold Plated Flatware
Hi Mark:
Unfortunately, plated gold flatware typically only contains a microscopic layer of gold. In most cases, the flatware is plated so thinly that it costs more in energy and time to remove the gold than the gold is worth. Therefore, most precious metal refiners cannot offer payment for gold plated items.
However, the value of your flatware depends greatly on the metal underneath the gold plating. In some cases, manufacturers plated the gold over sterling silver. If your set is gold on sterling silver, the set should be worth more than $50.00 for the silver value (market price of silver and weight depending). If they are gold plate on stainless or copper or another base metal you are best to sell them on ebay.
To give you a feel for the melt value, we buy sterling silver by weight and pay around $175 a pound at this time.* If you want to determine what metal is under the gold plating, you can send us one piece to test in our XRF analytical lab to determine if it is silver underneath the gold or you might be able to dig up some information by calling/writing the manufacturer.
You can see how the XRF machine works Arch Enterprises Video Site.
* Price reflects the price of silver when this blog article was published and my not reflect the current price of silver, which changes daily.
Tags: gold, gold plate, silverware
June 16th, 2010 at 1:16 am
I have this dinner ware that is gold looking. It has a red wood handle and on top is a goddess looking figure and under this figure the word siam.
thank you
Connie
July 15th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Hi Connie,
Is this goddess looking figure silver or gold? Do you see any markings on the silverware such as 925, sterling or SS? These would indicate that they are made with sterling silver and we could refine.
It sounds like you may have gold plated flatware. And unfortunately, like the response we gave above to Mark we cannot return payment on gold plated items unless what is under the gold plate is sterling silver.
Hope this helps. Thanks!
October 14th, 2010 at 12:50 am
I had a similiar inquiry about the value of gold silver flatware. Your information was very helpful in making a decision to what to do with such flatware. I am worthy to take food off the pieces! I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but in my adulthood I deserve the finery,until I need the cash!
November 25th, 2010 at 10:49 am
i have a 24k gold plated precious bill elliott 1989 /1999. how much can i get?
May 26th, 2011 at 9:13 am
My uncle recently passed away and left us 6 place settings (7 pieces in each place setting plus ice teaspoons) of gold flatware. We also have 6 steak knives. On the box it just says, SCC in an old English font. Each piece has a mark that is a two sided inverted “V” with an “S” in the middle. My uncle spent a lot of time in Japan after WWII.
July 29th, 2011 at 10:41 am
I have 5 Gold bars that are 1 ounce .999 500mg fine plated gold over silver and copper. I also have 1 gram of raw placer gold from a claim in a nearby stream. Where do I sell these. What are they worth.
September 12th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
I have a gold flatware set new, never used(still sealed in plastic) in the box that was inherited from my grandmother. It is from W M Rogers and Sons china. I cant find anything out about it on their website. how much do you think it might be worth?
September 13th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Hello!
For those of you that have gold PLATED silverware, the gold plate does not have value to a precious metal refiner. However, it is the metal UNDER the plate that may have value. If it is sterling silver under the plate than a precious metal refiner may be your best way to go. If it is copper or some other non-precious metal than you may get some return back from a scrap metal dealer.
Diane - I am guessing that your “gold flatware” is only gold plate. Since it is in new condition, you may be able to resell it for its inherent value, and NOT its precious metal value.
September 28th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
We have a set of Alpaca Gallo gold plated flatware. The flateware consists of small pieces with some sort of carving in black on the handles. Is this worth anything?