Silver is one of those precious metals that some pawn shops take and others don’t. Really, there’s nothing wrong with silver so don’t be disappointed if your local pawnbroker won’t accept it. The fact is that sterling silver is just not nearly as valuable as gold.
In fact, the value of sterling silver is substantially less than that of gold. It’s been as little as 1/100th of the value of gold at some points.
Because of that, not all pawn shops make a regular practice of accepting sterling silver items but it is still worth a call to find out.
However, just like gold silver’s value moves on a daily basis.
Because of that you have to be on the lookout for what a pawn shop is paying on any given day if they do take it in.
Just like gold, you can shop around for the best possible price on your silver merchandise.
Branded Silver Jewelry
If you have some jewelry made out of silver that was produced by a large ‘Brand’ a pawn shop that doesn’t deal in silver typically may still take it in.
An example would be Tiffany jewelry.
Tiffany makes a large variety of necklaces, bracelets, lockets and pendant out of silver that may not have substantial objective metal value – but they have excellent brand value because of the workmanship that went into making them.
Be aware though, some pawn shops will still only pay the scrape silver value for these items and not give you anything for their ‘brand.’
Advice For Pawning Silver Jewelry
If you have already called ahead and know that your local pawn shop will take in silver jewelry, just be sure that you clean it first.
If the ‘925’ or ‘Sterling’ stamp is covered in goo the pawn shop may turn it down as they may not be able to determine if it’s silver without seeing that stamping.
So take a few seconds and clean your jewelry with a toothbrush or some other kind of soft brush and soapy water.
If you happen to have jewelry cleaner available, dunk it in there for a few seconds when you are done.
By cleaning your silver jewelry upfront, you will give yourself the best chance of not only having your merchandise accepted, but getting the best value for it possible.
One Pawn Shop Exception For Silver
There is a bit of an ‘exception to the rule’ when it comes to silver. While some pawn shops may not take in silver jewelry, they will almost certainly take in coins made out of silver.
Silver coins are a much more commonly accepted form of collateral than silver jewelry. The best part is that it’s easy to tell if you have a silver coin or not.
You want to look for dollar coins, half dollar coins, quarters and dimes that were made in 1964 or earlier. The year the coin was made can be found on the bottom edge of it’s face.
These don’t have a whole lot of value for each individual coin, so you will want to collect a bunch of them before you head into the pawn shop with them.
Even though they are pretty commonly accepted, it is still best to call ahead and make sure that your coins will be accepted before you brag them down to the pawn shop.
Silver Coins In Wrappers
Just a word of advice – don’t spend a lot of time wrapping your silver coinage. Typically speaking a pawn shop will have to cut open that wrap as they will want to inspect the coins and make sure they are silver.
So save yourself a little time and effort up front and put them in a bag as opposed to a coin wrapper.
Pawn Shops And Silver Bars
Silver bars of substantial weight are almost always accepted by pawn shops. Remember, silver is a precious metal and the heavier your item is the more it will be worth.
So if you do happen to have some large, heavy bars of silver you can almost always bet that a pawn shop will take it in as collateral for a loan. If you want to sell it outright they will probably be glad to help you with that as well.
That’s About It…
If you still have any remaining questions about pawn shops and silver just leave me your questions or comments in the comment field below.
Thanks as always,
The Head Nerd
Mandy Dormain started working for Pawn Nerd in 2020. Mandy grew up in a small town in northern Tennessee. But moved to New York for university. Before joining Pawn Nerd, Mandy briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers politics and economy stories.
