I love my silverplate items! SP is far from worthless especially from a decorating point of view. My friend from 2nd grade (we are 71) recently had a request from her niece, a 28 year old young professional. The niece wanted any and all SP items my friend would give her to use and display in a modern house! Friend was happy to oblige!

cgard2.... I LOVE THAT COMMENT!! LOL

If you think silver plate is worthless....try pricing some silver plated items by Christofle!
But trite and hackney'ed plated items like the chased tray with the gadroon edge by International that is so ubitiquous is worth very little, while an old Sheffield candlestick with the copper "bleeding" through can be worth a small fortune. Depends what silver plated items you are talking about.
But even fine plate is worth very little as salvage and sadly that's what a lot of things on ebay are being bought for.

I collect silver, WMF, silver-plate as well as real sheffield plate and I value them all equally.

I know that money value means a lot to some people but I value pieces for their beauty and places in history!

The centerpiece is a silver-plated Reed and Barton while the water kettle at left (and below) is Dixon and sons Sheffield plate.

(The copper color in the kettle is from the camera shot and is Not from the underlying copper)

Both beautiful and both priceless in my eyes!

I have a solid silver Mappin and Webb tilting tea kettle that I would give up before I gave up these 'worthless' pieces! lol

Drool!!!

Damn.... That R&B epergne is to die for! I could see it filled with camellias... Old garden roses?... Gardenias?... Holly at Christmas?

Some day I am going to learn how to use a camera! lol

This is an WMF 'silver-plated' centerpiece that I was offered (what I call) a huge price for but declined.

Regardless of an items composition, an item is only worth what someone is willing to give for it and for what price the other person is willing to 'let go' of it for!

None of my items have a price tag and I am on a fixed (and small ... lol) income! 8)

Love that pink & white dish/bowl on the silver-plate boy, Beautiful! I couldn't part with that either!

And were did yo get it? It's magnifice

nt!

linda, I got a lot of antiques from a place that was known as Kaleidoscope, here in Chesterfield, Va.

The lady owner was a sweet little woman who looked out for me. 8)

I got my early 1800's Salviati seahorse stems from her as well as so many different collectible glassware items that I have no room for it all!

Silver, glass, pottery ... Cambridge, Heisey, Fostoria .. if it had anything to do with vintage or antiques "The Glass Lady" had it all.

Sadly the shop closed years ago when Brenda got sick and had to move away to be with family in her failing health.

A short obit ...

http://www.richmond.com/obituaries/cummings-brenda/article_da954d8a-ae68-5115-8d5c-f9728d2ad5b1.html

There used to be a woman here who seemed to have a similar shoppe....sadly that closed about 35 years ago....when I saw some of the things she bought I wondered where she found them....and how she had the capital to buy them. I do know that pickers knew what she would buy and would stop by her shop. One time she said she knew she would have to quit soon as she had bought a reproduction....her eyes were failing. She showed it to all us young antiquers as a lesson on what NOT to buy!

The 'glass lady's' store was actually a consignment shop.

Folks from all over brought their items to her to sell.

Mostly glass but some other kinds of antiques as well.

I use to buy from her and sell on ebay.

One killing I will always remember is .. I purchased a candlewick decanter (the rare one) from Brenda for $350.00 and it sold on ebay for over $1,000.00!

I have a photo somewhere.

Another time I purchased a rooster cocktail shaker for $25.00 just because I liked it.

(stainless steel I think?)

Imagine my surprise when I sold it for $2500.00!!

I have pictures of it too. 8)

I've sold SP tableware (forks and spoons) at our garage sale for 50 cents each. Not sure where to sell for more money.

@Doris - SP flatware is essentially valueless except for utilitarian purposes. My friend who loved to hold tea parties would pick it up because the she wasn't looking for matching pieces but liked the charm of silver - or more accurately silver-plate.

The prices charged by Replacements are ridiculous and bear no relationship to what stuff is actually worth unless you have someone who is attached to a particular pattern and is willing to pay the price. My friend bought a few pieces because she loved her Villeroy china.

My experience is that you can't even give away most old china unless it is somehow rare or distinctive in design - but just the ordinary "Limoges" stuff that everyone's grandmother owned has no value. I think it's because everyone had it and it was saved for formal occasions so almost everything survived - unlike stuff that was used for everyday and which got broken. I have my grandmother's Bernadaud Limoges - probably from the late 1920's or 1930's - service for 16 with all kinds of serving pieces. I also have my old Fiesta which was originally marketed as cheap stuff for the masses. The old Fiesta is much more valuable than the Limoges ironically. Caveat that I haven't checked prices for Fiesta in several years and it probably is no longer as collectible since there is so much new stuff on the market and most people don't need to scour the market for the old stuff. And the old stuff is incredibly fragile - it chips if I look at it versus the new stuff which is extremely durable.

Some old patterns with roses or grapes, or buildings or famous people on them might be worth keeping even if SP, my granddaughter wants my collection. I like the pretty fancy ones for serving sugar or jelly,etc.

I grew up in a household where we used sterling daily (a simple but elegant pattern, probably intended for everyday use). The utensils have a sense of weight that I just love, while not being overly thick (like stainless patterns tend to be).

I picked up a large set of 1940's silver plate (velvet-lined box included) for $25 at a charity rummage sale. The pattern isn't rare or special, but it's pleasing and classic. It was so nice to have silver on the table again. (Had to do some polishing - all of it had that nasty yellow patina from the dishwasher.) Even though it's plate and intrinsically worthless and way cheaper than new "designer" stainless steel patterns, it still looks killer on your dining table. Silver shines in a way that steel just doesn't.

I've also started collecting other silver plate wares like serving trays and platters, pitchers, wine coasters, and cute little olive bowls. Goes nicely with all the impression glass I also collect. My sideboard is full of shiny and sparkly and it's awesome.

Silver plate rules. It's cheap (especially now that everyone else thinks it's worthless and is too lazy to wash by hand and polish every so often) and it's gorgeous and a great way to class up your holiday meals, dinner parties, or just regular dinner.

I received a sterling compote for a wedding present When it arrived (via UPS) the box was crushed and the "stem" was twisted. Insurance covered it and they told me to keep it. When it's out on a table, I just make sure that there is always something in it to hide the spot inside where it's twisted. Otherwise nobody would ever know but it probably has only melt value if I were to sell it.