To sell silver cutlery in the UK: check each piece for the lion passant hallmark to confirm it's solid silver rather than plate, weigh it in grams excluding stainless knife blades, then multiply by 0.925 and the silver price per gram. Sterling flatware currently pays £— per gram with us, around £— for a typical six-place canteen.
First: is it solid silver or plate?
This single question accounts for most of the disappointment in the trade. The great majority of "silver" canteens in British houses are electroplated, or EPNS, and they look, feel and tarnish exactly like the real thing. Plate has no recoverable silver content, so no honest buyer can pay for it.
Solid British silver carries a hallmark including the lion passant, a small walking lion in profile. On flatware it sits on the back of the stem, usually near the bowl on spoons or just below the widest part of the handle on forks. It's typically 2-3mm across and often worn faint, a jeweller's loupe and a lamp held at a low angle will find it when a naked eye can't.
What you'll find on plate instead: EPNS, EP, A1, A1 Quality, EPBM, nickel silver, alpacca or a maker's name with no assay marks at all. None of these is a silver standard, whatever they sound like. Our plate versus solid silver guide goes through the marks in detail.
Mixed canteens are extremely common
Sets get broken up, replaced and topped up over a century. It is entirely normal to find sterling spoons alongside plated forks in the same box, and to find plated serving pieces in an otherwise solid set. Check every piece rather than assuming the canteen is uniform, or send the lot and let the XRF sort it out.
The knife handle trap
This is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding in silver flatware, and it is worth reading twice.
Silver-handled table knives are not solid silver. The handle is a thin sterling shell, filled with pitch, resin or plaster, with a steel tang running through it to hold the blade. The blade itself is stainless steel or carbon steel, never silver. So a knife that weighs 90g on the scales might contain only 25-35g of actual silver.
A dozen table knives can therefore weigh well over a kilogram while holding perhaps a third of that in recoverable metal. Any quote based on the gross weight of loaded knives will be dramatically higher than the amount that can honestly be paid, and you'll be told the bad news only after your parcel has arrived somewhere.
What we do about it: weigh your knives separately and enter them as a separate line, or simply note in the form how many knives are in the parcel. We remove blades and filler, weigh the recovered silver, and pay on that. You see the deduction itemised before payment, and if the difference from your estimate is significant we contact you rather than quietly adjusting the figure.
The same principle applies to weighted candlesticks, whose bases are filled with pitch or plaster for stability, and to any piece with a wooden, bone or ivory handle, a glass liner, or a ceramic insert. Only the silver is paid for.
Count and categorise
Lay everything out on a towel and sort by type. It takes ten minutes and makes the rest of the process straightforward.
| Piece | Typical weight each | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Table fork | 55-75g | Solid silver throughout |
| Table spoon | 60-80g | Solid silver throughout |
| Dessert fork | 40-55g | Solid silver throughout |
| Dessert spoon | 45-60g | Solid silver throughout |
| Soup spoon | 55-70g | Solid silver throughout |
| Teaspoon | 18-28g | Solid silver throughout |
| Table knife | 85-110g gross | Filled handle, roughly 25-35g of silver |
| Serving spoon / ladle | 90-200g | Solid; often the heaviest pieces in the box |
Typical ranges for Victorian to mid-century British flatware. Heavy Georgian and Old English patterns run higher; lightweight modern sets run lower. Always weigh rather than estimate from a table.
A standard six-place canteen contains 6 each of table forks, table knives, dessert forks, dessert knives, dessert spoons, soup spoons and teaspoons, usually with serving pieces alongside. Don't set aside incomplete sets or orphaned pieces. We pay by weight, so a drawer of odd spoons is worth exactly what the same weight in a fitted canteen is worth.
Weighing correctly
Digital kitchen scales are fine; jewellery scales are better for small lots. Weigh in grams.
- Weigh the solid pieces together: forks, spoons and serving items in one total.
- Weigh knives separately and enter them as a separate line, or tell us the count.
- Exclude anything that isn't silver: wooden or bone handles, the canteen box itself, felt, plastic dividers.
- Don't polish. Tarnish costs you nothing, and aggressive polishing removes a tiny amount of metal.
- Estimate honestly. Your quote is based on your figures; payment is based on the tested weight. Over-estimating only produces a disappointing correction later.
| Canteen | Solid silver weight | Metal value | We pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six teaspoons only | 140g | £— | £— |
| Part set, no knives | 600g | £— | £— |
| Six-place canteen | 1,400g | £— | £— |
| Twelve-place canteen | 2,800g | £— | £— |
Silver weight excludes knife blades and filler. Live figures at today's spot price: put your own weight into the calculator for an exact quote.
Should you scrap it or sell it as a set?
For metal value, completeness is irrelevant. We pay by weight whether the set is perfect or a jumble. But for a minority of canteens, the set is worth more intact than melted, and it's worth ten minutes checking before you decide.
Get a valuation first if: the set is Georgian or earlier; it's a complete twelve-place service in its original fitted oak canteen; it carries a prestigious maker's mark; the pattern is a sought-after named one such as King's, Queen's, Albany or Old English Thread; or it has armorials, a crest or documented provenance. Auction, a dealer, or a specialist collector may beat metal value on those.
Metal value usually wins if: the set is Victorian or later in mixed condition, incomplete, mismatched, monogrammed, worn thin from a century of polishing, or a common pattern. The antique market for ordinary Victorian and Edwardian flatware has been soft for years, and after auction commission of typically 15-20% plus fees, many lots return less than the silver in them.
We would rather tell you to go elsewhere than buy something worth more than we pay. If you're unsure, say so when you submit and we'll tell you honestly what we think when it arrives, and return it free if you'd rather try another route.
How selling works
- Get your quote. Enter your weight and purity, the figure updates live as you type, based on the current spot price.
- Accept and lock the rate. Your rate is held for 48 hours. Post within that window and it's the rate we pay regardless of what the market does.
- Get your free label. A Royal Mail QR code appears on screen straight away. No printer, the Post Office counter scans it from your phone. Postage and tracking are free.
- Pack it properly. Wrap pieces so they don't rattle, use a sturdy box, and keep your tracking number. Our packaging guide covers it.
- We test and weigh. Every piece is XRF analysed at our Sheffield workshop and weighed precisely. Blades and filler are removed and itemised.
- You're paid within 48 hours of receipt by Faster Payments bank transfer. Anything we can't buy comes back to you free, insured and tracked.
Frequently asked questions
How much is silver cutlery worth per gram?
Sterling flatware contains 0.925g of silver per gram, worth £— at today's spot price. InstaSilver pays a flat 80% of that, or £— per gram, on any quantity above the £50 minimum.
How much is a canteen of silver cutlery worth?
A six-place sterling canteen typically holds around 1,400g of silver once knife blades are excluded, which pays roughly £— today. A twelve-place set at about 2,800g pays roughly £—. Weight varies considerably by pattern, so use the calculator with your own figure.
Are silver knife handles worth anything?
Yes, but much less than their weight suggests. The handle is a thin sterling shell filled with pitch or resin around a steel tang, and the blade is stainless steel. A 90g knife typically yields 25-35g of silver. We remove the filler and blades, weigh the recovered silver and pay on that, showing the deduction itemised.
How do I know if my cutlery is silver or EPNS?
Look for the lion passant, a small walking lion, on the back of the stem. That mark means assayed sterling. EPNS, EP, A1, EPBM, nickel silver and alpacca are all electroplate with no recoverable silver. If the marks are worn or you're unsure, send it: we XRF test everything and return anything we can't buy free of charge.
Is an incomplete set worth less?
Not for metal value. We pay purely by weight, so six odd spoons from a drawer are worth the same as six matching spoons from a canteen. Completeness only matters if you're selling into the antique market instead.
Should I clean my silver cutlery before selling it?
No. Tarnish is a surface film and has no effect on the price, while heavy polishing removes a small amount of metal and can wear hallmarks faint. Send it exactly as it is.
Do you buy silver-plated cutlery?
No, the plating is microns thick and can't be recovered economically, so we can't pay for it honestly. If plated pieces arrive mixed in with solid silver, we'll identify them and return them free rather than melting them.
How long does payment take?
Within 48 hours of your parcel reaching us, by Faster Payments bank transfer. The rate is the one you locked when you accepted your quote, not the rate on the day we open the box.