Silver plated.....

Anyone have any luck recycling silver plated items lately?

I've got all this silver plate from a death in the family.  Went thru it all and no sought after patterns.  Plus, it was actually used....like every Sunday/family/holiday dinner for 50 years.  It's pretty worn. Had a sale and a set of flatware (50pc) didn't even sell at $15 (who wants to polish it). In fact, it's so NOT wanted it sat out next garage, unattended, over a weekend and no one took it.


I've been all around and no will buy it.  They'll take it, but not buy it.   I'm not trying to recycle for silver content but they're copper based. Nickel. No one will even give me low brass price.
I use to have no problem selling it.  Wouldn't get very much but they would buy it. Now no one wants it.

I was at a thrift shop and noticed they had a nice assortment.  Asked how well it sold.  She said all of it has been there for years and it keeps growing.  Told here I had a bunch I'll probably end up donating as well.  Her reply: "oh please, Don't bring it here."

You can sell it as a lot on eBay. Probably won't get a lot for it.

You could always use a Dremel tool to remove the plating, but it's quite time consuming. 

I looked how to acid bath the silver off.   Turns out that with all I have there MIGHT be an ounce-ish.
Guy on youtube did 500 pieces of flatware and got $60 of silver......supplies cost $25. 
Not really worth taking days to make $35.   

Dremel seems like even more work and a mess.

Looked on ebay.  Not really selling there either.  And Like I said, it's well used. 

Guess I'll throw it in a corner until I have some major recycling to do.  They are so much more willing to pay for stuff they don't really want when you have a bunch of stuff they DO want.....

My mother sold a real nice set for $40 a few weeks back, but if it has any blemishes it goes in the general scrap metal pile. I hate to do it but like you said you cant give it away and recycling is too time consuming.

I've about a dozen knives that have filled handles, but they're real silver. One day when I have some free time I'll get the vice grips and a hammer and extract the stainless blades and the cement.