Valuing old silver

Saanen

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What is the title of a person who values old silver, like silverware? My MC has dug up a box of hidden silverware and needs to find out how much it's worth. Who can tell him? This story is set in 1920s England, if that makes any difference. Thanks!
 

job

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What is the title of a person who values old silver, like silverware? My MC has dug up a box of hidden silverware and needs to find out how much it's worth. Who can tell him? This story is set in 1920s England, if that makes any difference. Thanks!

An antiiques dealer would do ya.

You might choose the sort of person who nowadays would be a member of LAPADA, here. or an actual member of the older organization BADA. BADA would have been around in your era. Here.

For very fine silver, one might get it appraised by Christie's here or Sotheby's here.

If it was of historical interest, you might take it to the V&A (here) and scout out an expert there.
 
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Saanen

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Oh, thanks! That's precisely what I needed. :)
 

Kathie Freeman

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If the silver was hidden, it might be stolen. In any case if your MC was not legally entitled to it he or she might not want to take it to a legit appraiser. I think it more likely he would go to a pawnbroker.
 

pdr

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If this...

is the UK in 1920s then most towns had Sales Rooms which held an auction weekly/fortnightly/monthly. They would have valuers, not great experts, but a starting point. In the 1920s, as today, antique dealers, unless of the reputable dealing houses, with a licence, were prone to cheat, lie and thieve.

The auctioneers would be reasonably knowledgeable and most of them had the hallmark manual for English silver. All English silver is hallmarked with the date it was made, the maker's name and the office where it was assayed and stamped. This manual is a book readily available in libraries too so your character might start there.

The hallmarks get rubbed at during cleaning so old silver can be hard to date solely from the hallmarks. But the style of the silver tells the date. There were very specific styles and the way makers actually made the silverware is a giveaway.

Copies of ancient silverware are easy to tell as they are hallmarked. Victorians did a lot of very beautiful ones now valuable in their own right. Tampered hallmarks are reasonably easy to detect.
 
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Don Allen

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The posts above me are dead on, but i just thought that I'd add the possibility of a numistmatist, (spelled wrong I'm sure) my spell check dosen't work here. Realo coin collectors usually have an uncanny knowledge of the worth of precious metals because the commodity markets affect the price of coins to a degree, though not as much as scarcity. I thought an old coin collector might be a neat charactor. Just a thought...
 

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Then, as you can today, jewellry can be valued at high-end jewellers.

These days this is done for the purposes of insurance. Takes around a week, but you get a written valuation describing the items (individually) as well as the value.
Just a thought.