Category Archives: Silver

I have around 10 pounds of pure silver powder I would like to sell. How much do you think its worth? From Robin in Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Hi Robin,

To determine the value of your silver powder, you would first need to know how pure the silver is.  For instance, fine silver is 99.9% silver, but if your silver powder contains other ingredients, then it would not be as valuable, assuming the other ingredients are not some other highly precious metal like gold or platinum.

If your silver powder is marked 999 silver anywhere on the container or label, then it is most likely 99.9 % fine silver and you can estimate its value by converting your 10 pounds into 145.833 troy ounces.  (Please note that Silver commodity prices are measured in Troy ounces and not the standard avoirdupois ounces that most Americans think of when they see the word ounce.  Many people mistakenly estimate silver value by multiplying standard avoirdupois ounces by the price per ounce and get a higher value.)

Once you have your weight converted into troy ounces, you can multiply this number by the silver exchange rate published on sites like CNN Money http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/index.html. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume that the price was $18 per troy ounce.  Given this, the market value of your silver would be about $2,625.

Of course, this price fluctuates and as a refiner, we still would need to process the silver and find a buyer for this particular material so we typically pay 75% of the silver value by weight but could pay up 90% depending on the fine silver content of your powder. If it has no markings, we will have to run additional analytical tests to determine how much silver material is available to extract. Not only will this require more time to refine, but the silver may a much lower purity than the 99.9% used in our example.

We would advise that you send us a small sample of the silver powder so that we can measure its purity and provide a more accurate estimate.

Hi, I work in a pet hospital and would like an estimate to recycle about 400 pounds of X-ray films. Can your firm help me?  From Donna in Knoxville, Tennessee

Hi Donna,

Thanks for your inquiry. Arch Enterprises is one of the largest x-ray film recycling companies in the U.S. and we not only have the capability to recycle X-ray film, but we recover the silver content from them so instead of paying for the items to be recycled, you may actually get paid for your film (depending on the volume of actual X-ray film you have and the transportation costs). Your area in Tennessee also falls within our range of locations where we offer X-ray film pickup services so this is beneficial.

Before we make freight arrangements, there is some helpful information that you can provide so we know what we are dealing with. First, are the X-rays in paper sleeves or just alone in a container? And do you have a loading dock available at your facility? Also, are your X-rays are on a pallet? If not, what are the box dimensions and how many boxes you have? This information will give us a better idea of how long the pickup and X-ray refining process will take and what kind of loading equipment we will need onsite.

Find out more about our X-ray film pickup and refining services on our website.

Hi, I would like to sell silver coins minted before 1964. Most are Morgan Dollars. I have about 300 + ounces of coins. How much do you pay on these silver coins? From Alberto in San Diego, California

Hi Alberto,

Thanks for your question about selling silver US Morgan Dollars. Morgan Dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. While most of your Morgan Dollars would be considered “junk silver,” meaning they do not have numismatic or collection value, you might want to look up if there were any special editions made that you could have in your stash. If these are in decent condition, you may receive more money from a coin collector than from a refiner like us. Below is an example of the US Morgan Dollar.

A Morgan Dollar can contain up to 0.7735 troy ounces of silver in mint condition. So using the spot price of silver today at $17.29 UDS/troy ounce,* one Morgan Dollar at market price can be worth up to $13.37. We can typically pay about 90% of the fine silver content by weight on these coins after refining and converting into a pure form.

Please weigh your coins before you ship them. If you only look up how much silver is in a mint condition Morgan Dollar, your estimate could be off slightly. Due to significant wear from years in circulation, coins often experience a slight drop in silver weight, around 1-2 percent.

*Note: the price of silver changes daily.

I have approximately 250 pieces of sterling silver flatware. My grandmother collected it over 50 years, not from one set, but from everywhere!  There may be closer to 300 pieces. From Greg in Farmington, Missouri

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your inquiry. We always recommend weighing silverware first before you ship. If you are sure that all the flatware from your grandmother is sterling, then we would recommend separating the knives from the batch and weighing those separately from forks and spoons. We tell people to do this because many times knife blades are stainless steel, not silver. Also, knife handles are sometimes filled with another metal. This is done to add weight to a utensil so that it sits better is a user’s hand.

If you do not know for sure if all your pieces are sterling, we would recommend trying to separate your pieces into one pile where you can find a marking indicating sterling and another “unidentified” group. We would recommend looking for markings or hallmarks at the base of the handle or back of the utensil. The following markings indicate sterling:

• Sterling
• .925
• 925/1000
• .800
• 800/1000
• .900
• 900/1000
• S
• SS

It would be helpful if you kept your piles separated during shipment, in bags work fine. We pay 75% of the fine silver content by weight on 925 silver. Let us know if you have any questions. We can take all your silverware, but we can only pay returns on sterling silver.

Watch a video about sterling silver flatware and see a refiner take apart some silver pieces.

How much would 370 Washington silver quarters, minted between 1951 and 1964, and 97 Franklin and Liberty silver half dollars be worth melted? From Melissa in Tampa, Florida

Hi Melissa,

We do buy silver coins like yours for the silver value of the coins. Turning these older coins into a refiner is extremely profitable. We buy them for 90% of their fine silver value by weight which makes them worth well over their currency face value.

Today Washington quarters are made out of an alloy of 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel that is also called clad or “sandwich metal.” However, Washington quarters minted with the date 1964 and earlier typically contain about 90% silver. Sometimes you can tell the difference by the clink sound of the coins. Instead of a ring, the silver coins against others sound like a thud.

An important item to note is that coins that have experienced significant wear often have a slight drop in silver weight, around 1-2 percent. That is why we recommend weighing your coins before you ship.

Because you have a significant amount of coins we would recommend using the US Postal Service’s flat rate shipping boxes and choosing the “signature required on delivery” option.

Visit our website for more information about our silver coin refining service.