Melt value
£0
At £1.58 per gram fine, 21 September 2026
Category
Silvervaluation, hallmarks and prices
Hallmarks, makers, patterns and what it all sells for. The most complete section on the Desk, and the place to start with an inherited canteen or oddments.
All guides
More on silver
8 guides in this category so far.
Guide
How to sell silver
How to sell silver in the UK: four buyers, the three weights a quote is built on, and why a Scottish scrap dealer cannot pay cash for it.Price guide
What silver cutlery and silverware are worth
The price of sterling silverware starts at its weight. What a canteen makes at auction, which pieces weigh nothing, and how the pattern moves the figure.Guide
Rare silver marks: the ones worth checking for
A British mark is rare when the law that required it lasted months, or when the office that struck it closed. The short windows, and what each one tells you.Guide
Silver makers' marks: how to read one and find the maker
A maker's mark is the initials of whoever sent the piece for assay, struck in a shaped punch. How to read one, and the registers that turn it into a name.
Guide
Scrap value or auction value? How to decide what to do with old silver
Every piece of silver has a scrap value, its weight in metal, and some have an auction value far above it. How to tell which before you sell.
Guide
Silver date letters, explained
Every assay office stamped a hallmark date letter that changed yearly. How the cycles work, why the shield beats the letter, and how to find the year.
Guide
Solid silver or plate? Six tests you can do at the kitchen table
Most inherited "silver" is plated. Six ways to tell if silver is real, what EPNS and A1 actually mean, and what a house full of plate is worth.Tools
Two tools you can use at home
Hallmark identifier
Pick the marks you can see on the piece. The tool tells you the metal, the town, the year and the maker.
Open the hallmark identifierScrap silver calculator
At auction, this weight
£180 to £1,150
Teapots, tankards and small salvers
Most British silver is sterling. A refiner pays a little under melt. The auction figures are examples of what objects of that weight have made, not a valuation of yours: maker, date and condition decide it, which is what scrap value or auction value covers.
Makers, objects and marks in this category
Makers
- Georg Jensen1904 to date
- Hester Bateman1761 to 1790
- Liberty & Co1899 to about 1930 for Cymric silver
- Nathaniel Mills1826 to 1856
- Omar Ramsden1898 to 1939
- Paul Storr1792 to 1838
Hallmarks
- Lion passant1544 to date
- London silver hallmarks1300 to date
- Birmingham silver hallmarks1773 to date
- 925 silverCompulsory on British hallmarks since 1999
- Sheffield silver hallmarks1773 to date
- Chester silver hallmarks1701 to 1962
- EPNS and silver plate marks1840 to date
- Scottish silver hallmarksEdinburgh 1485 to date
- All hallmarks11 pages
Want a valuer to look at it?
Send photographs of the piece and the marks, and a specialist will tell you what it is and what it should make. It is free, and there is no obligation to sell.
Sale prices
Recent silver sale prices
Hammer, excluding premium.
| Date | Object | Saleroom | Estimate | Hammer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug 2026 | Georg Jensen 'Acorn' canteen, 48 pieces Lot 212 | Wiltshire | £1,500 to £2,500 | £2,100 |
| 14 Aug 2026 | Pair of George III candlesticks, Sheffield 1791 Lot 230 | Wiltshire | £600 to £900 | £720 |
| 22 Jul 2026 | Victorian bachelor's teapot, Birmingham 1889 Lot 88 | Sussex | £150 to £250 | £180 |
| 22 Jul 2026 | Nathaniel Mills castle-top card case, Birmingham 1845 Lot 102 | Sussex | £400 to £600 | £640 |
| 3 Jul 2026 | Set of six sterling teaspoons with an EPNS tray, mixed Lot 431 | London | £40 to £60 | £40 |
| 19 Jun 2026 | Omar Ramsden footed bowl, London 1928 Lot 56 | London | £1,200 to £1,800 | £2,600 |
| 5 Jun 2026 | Georg Jensen 'Pyramid' dessert spoons, set of six Lot 190 | Wiltshire | £150 to £250 | £190 |
| 22 May 2026 | Hester Bateman sugar tongs, London 1786 Lot 204 | London | £80 to £120 | £110 |
| 1 May 2026 | Silver tankard, London 1772, later chased Lot 61 | Wiltshire | £300 to £500 | £320 |
Hammer is the winning bid before the buyer's premium. Figures are illustrative until partner salerooms supply live results.All price records →