The silver price and selling silver by post

Silver standards and how they affect value

How silver is valued: solid silver is assessed by its confirmed fineness and payable weight. Plated surfaces, weighted bases and steel knife blades must not be treated as solid silver. The market changes, and a wholesale quotation is not a promise of what a particular object will fetch. GoldPaid does not publish a price list or calculator. Send photos for a rough estimate where possible; your written offer follows inspection of your own items.

How silver is valued, by weight and standard

The silver price is the live wholesale market for silver, quoted per troy ounce and often converted to a per-gram figure in pounds. Sterling, Britannia and 800-standard items are scaled from it by their purity. What you are paid reflects the standard we confirm and the weight we measure, with the margin already inside the figure. The written offer follows an XRF test of your specific items and shows the calculation.

The silver standards, and what they mean

British silver is marked by its purity. Sterling silver is 92.5% pure (925), Britannia is 95.8% (958), continental 800-standard is 80%, and fine silver is 99.9% (999). The mark tells you the standard; the weight tells you how much silver is there. GoldPaid confirms the standard by XRF rather than relying on the stamp, and every figure is set out in a written offer before you decide. See how we value gold and silver for the full method.

Sterling, Britannia, 800 and fine: what the marks mean

Silver is worth far less by weight than gold, so silver value usually comes from the weight of a set, a full canteen of cutlery rather than a single chain. That is why a rough total weight is the most useful thing to send with your photos. See sell silver for the full list of what we buy.

What moves the silver price

Silver behaves a little differently to gold. It is partly an industrial metal, used in electronics, solar panels and medical applications, and partly an investment metal. That gives it two demand drivers, which is why silver tends to be more volatile than gold both up and down.

• Industrial demand, solar, electronics and medical use account for a large share of annual silver consumption.
• Investment demand, coins, small bars and silver ETFs all draw on the same supply.
• Gold-to-silver ratio, many traders watch how many ounces of silver buy one ounce of gold; the ratio swings, and silver tends to outperform gold when that ratio compresses.
• GBP/USD, like gold, silver is priced internationally in dollars, so a weaker pound pushes the GBP silver rate up even when the USD price is flat.

Weighted bases, knife handles and other "loaded" pieces

Silver candlesticks, knife handles, salt cellars and some hollow-stem trophies often have a weighted base or filling, pitch, plaster of Paris or a non-precious filler, added for stability. The hallmark applies to the silver shell, not the filler. We still buy these items; we account for the filler honestly in the assay and weighing, and your written breakdown shows the recoverable silver weight rather than the gross item weight. Acid-testing or melting them yourself is never necessary, XRF reads the silver content directly.

A note on plated silver

Items stamped EPNS (electroplated nickel silver), "silver plate" or simply "plated" are not solid silver. They carry only a thin surface layer with little recoverable value, so they are not bought for their metal. The same is true of most modern jewellery sold as "silver-tone". The marks usually settle it. Solid British silver carries a lion passant, or a millesimal number such as 925 or 958, alongside an assay-office town mark. Electroplate tends to carry maker initials, "EPNS", "A1" or nothing at all. If the marks are worn away, photograph whatever is left and we will say whether the piece is worth the postage. The hallmark guide covers the marks in detail.

A worked example: a canteen of cutlery

Say you have a sterling-silver canteen of cutlery weighing 1,200g gross (a full Old English pattern set). Cutlery handles are sometimes loaded; for the example assume the recoverable silver content after weighing is 1,000g of 925 silver. That 1,000g is priced against the live market for sterling, with our margin already inside the figure, and the result is your written offer. The same logic applies to a single 4g sterling chain. There is no minimum weight to send and no premium for sending larger lots.

From the market price to your figure

The market price becomes a real figure once it is matched to confirmed purity and weight. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market. If you also have gold to sell, the gold price page covers how carat drives value, and scrap gold value explains valuing broken pieces.

Selling silver by post

GoldPaid is a UK-wide postal service, so you can sell silver without visiting a shop. Send a photo of the marks on WhatsApp for a rough estimate, request a free tracked label, and post when you are ready. Your parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked and signed for. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post, and a larger lot can be split across more than one prepaid label at no charge; silver value comes from weight, so send a rough total weight with your photo and we will advise on packing and postage first. See sell gold by post UK for the full process.

What you see before you decide

GoldPaid makes no price-beating claims. You get the XRF reading, the weight and the figure for every piece in writing, and you decide at home.

Common questions