Silverware for Success: A Collector’s Guide to Tableware Investing

A sterling spoon, a silver-plated tray, and a weighted candlestick can look similar and behave very differently in a sale. Silverware for Success teaches you to read the whole object before trusting a stamp or a price tag.

Photograph marks and condition, care for surfaces without erasing evidence, separate metal value from an appraisal or buyer offer, and compare direct, consignment, auction, and online routes. An inherited flatware chest and a teaching spoon carry the lessons through the book. The reusable object card keeps identity, history, and decisions together.

• Distinguish sterling, plate, and weighted pieces before estimating metal value.
• Document marks, condition, and history while avoiding care that erases useful evidence.
• Compare direct sale, consignment, auction, and online routes with a reusable object card.

Give inherited silverware a fair assessment before the first offer.

See what is inside

The revised edition covers these chapters and reader resources:

• Chapter 1 — Read the Object Before the Mark
• Chapter 2 — Preserve the Surface Before You Clean
• Chapter 3 — Value Is a Question with a Purpose
• Chapter 4 — Choose the Sale Route Before You Hand It Over
• Chapter 5 — Before Anything Is Scrap
• Chapter 6 — Silver Plate Is an Object, Not a Metal Weight
• Chapter 7 — Buy with a Ceiling, Not a Treasure Story
• Chapter 8 — Keep a Collection You Can Explain
• Chapter 9 — Keep the Story Attached
• Chapter 10 — Make the Next Decision
• Silver Tableware Object Card