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Terrible Luck Trying To Sell 3.5lb Bar Of Silver, Please Help

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United States
2 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  12:32 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Mxs8106 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
So I have a roughly 3.5lb bar of silver that belonged to a family member who was a silversmith and made custom jewelry. It has no markings just melted down into a smooth block, maybe 4-5in square and about an inch thick. I took it to a couple of different shops locally to get prices on its worth. The first shop did some test and weighed it in a water bath device and was at least honest enough to tell me that it tested higher than 92.5% but would have to do chemical test to nail down the exact silver content. Long story short, as I looked up the price of sterling online and each shop only offered me roughly 30-50% of its value for the going price of sterling on that day. When I said that's about half of what it's worth they would say something like gotta leave some meat on the bone for me. Of course I just held on to the bar, but what kind of price (relative to the going price for sterling) should I be looking to get and what are some reputable places who buy unmarked bars such as this? Thanks in advance
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Pacificoin's Avatar
Canada
5395 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  12:37 am  Show Profile   Check Pacificoin's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add Pacificoin to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Needs to sent to a legitimate refinery for assay .
Then sold for the proper price on melt
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United States
2282 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  01:47 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add NumismaticsFTW to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Unless you know someone willing to take the chance and purchase it without knowing, you're going to have to spend money and getting it assayed.
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John1's Avatar
United States
56855 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  03:51 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add John1 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Mxs8106,
to CCF.
John1
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Zurie's Avatar
United States
5674 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  03:54 am  Show Profile   Check Zurie's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add Zurie to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Try Midwest Refineries, they will assay it and give you at least 90% of silver value for a high purity bar.
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sel_69l's Avatar
Australia
21788 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  06:44 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add sel_69l to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Any specialist bullion dealer worth his salt should have a hand held XRF gun.
XRF should prove if .925 fine, or, as I would expect as a result of density testing, .990 or better.

I would think that an assay test by a silver refiner would cost more than an XRF test. Nevertheless, ask a silver refiner how much they think that the silver may be really worth. That should be the cost of a telephone call.

Both lots of testing should give more credence to getting much closer to an ASW melt price.

You did the right thing in refusing the 30%-50% offer, which was waaaay to low.
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Dearborn's Avatar
United States
96800 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  08:00 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Dearborn to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

I'm sure interested in the results you get after an assay or XRF test. If you do manage to sell it, please report back here.
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United States
2 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  2:12 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Mxs8106 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you so much for your help guys, this is the exact information I was looking for and I will post updates on what comes of it from here. So the assay seems to be the proper way to determine what the purity of a bar is, is this an expensive process? What does a service like that cost? Thank you again for all the help
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Zurie's Avatar
United States
5674 Posts
 Posted 07/06/2022  2:35 pm  Show Profile   Check Zurie's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add Zurie to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Midwest Refineries will automatically assay a bar like that to determine the silver content. Give them a call.

https://www.midwestrefineries.com/s...yer-brokers/
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jbuck's Avatar
United States
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