How To Scrap Silver Plate, and Recycling old Silver Plated Items

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The price of silver is going up, up, up! The first thing you expected to happen, has: The silver pieces you have been picking up at garage sales and thrift shops are harder to find. Things are still around of course... But what is left sitting out is the silver plated stuff...

Silver plated items have been gong up in value... But surprisingly, its not because silver is going up in value. Its actually because copper is going up in value.

Thats right, folks. Silver plate is usually a Copper alloy base. When people hear this, they are often taken aback... Well then, why is it white? Well that brings me to my second major point. Silver plate is also often a Nickel alloy base. So to summarize, silver plate is a mixture of Nickel and Copper, two of the most expensive metals in the scrap base metal recycling industry.

So what are the different types of silver plate?

• Pure Copper Base: This is easy to spot. hit it with a file, or hit it with a grinder really quick, and when you see that beautiful copper color, you'll know. When you come across a piece of plated silverware or something of that nature, it will usually NOT be pure copper under the silver plate because copper is too weak to be used as a utensil. It would bend and deflect too easily. 
• Cupronickel: is an alloy or copper and nickel, and is german for coppernickel. (creative, I know.) Cupronickel comes in all sorts of alloys, and all types of values. 90/10 curponickel (90% copper and 10% nickel) is the most valuable but rarely found. 70/30 cupronickel is worth less, but considerably easier to find. I often find 70/30 cupronickel, and many times silver imitation (not plated) is 70/30 cupronickel. Many yards will have a separate list of cupronickel prices (often worth more than copper), and other yards buy it at brass price. 
• German Silver: This is an uglier version of cupronickel, containing copper nickel, and zinc. Usually in a mixture of 60, 20, 20 respectively. This is worth brass price. 
• Pure Nickel: Very rarely seen in anything modern, but more often found in old silver plated pieces. Honestly, if you find a pure nickel silver plated piece, it is likely worth much more as an antique then as scrap.

I hope you see this as an opportunity to make some money! Usually you will need to buy some of this stuff in bulk to feel like you are getting any sort of deal. Some places, like garage sales and thrift stores, will often have this type of stuff all over the place.




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