Hidden Treasures

You may have hidden treasures sitting in your drawers, closets, attic or in the garage and you don’t even know it.

At California Gold & Silver exchange, we love to see the shock on peoples faces when they come to our store and say they found something in their house or garage when cleaning up and we tell them how much they will get. Many people don’t even realize how much money they have lying around in their garage, attic, closets or drawers. See below to learn how to identify the hidden treasures all around you.

How to Identify Sterling Silver Flatware & Tea Sets from Silver Plated Items

3 Steps to Identifying Sterling Flatware:

Step 1: Find the Marking (usually on the backside of Forks and Spoons and on the side of the handle on a knife)

Step 2: Read the Marking (The main thing to remember is if it says “Sterling” it usually is good. If it does not it usually is silver plated, however sometimes Sterling will be stamped 925 or have a picture that can identify it. Also please note that lower content silver items can be stamped with numbers like 900, 800. If you are not sure please bring them in for us to identify. Please see example below of some sterling & Silver Plated Markings)

Step 3: Bring it into California Gold & Silver Exchange (if you have determined it is sterling or if you are not 100% sure it is plated. Please note that California Gold & Silver Exchange does not buy plated items.)