Featured Modern Day Treasure Hunter

Hey everyone,

I'm going to keep my comments fairly brief tonight. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I'm glad to share the details of my finds today. As always, I feel blessed to have found these treasures.

Story #1 is my finds from local thrift stores. I got lucky in one store I managed to find three bags full of real silver in plain view. The only tricky items in the photos below are the 900 and 800 silver dishes. I didn't even see the marks inside the bag, I thought the metal felt pliable and they were cheap. Including a few speculative items that turned out to be plated, I spent $22 on everything in the first photo.

I went to a bunch of other stores, and snagged the flatware in the last photo. They were tucked into a set of flatware the store had priced at $70 (too much for me). I saw them last week and I was waiting/hoping there would be a sale. Even though I strolled in mid afternoon, they were still there with 50% off. So snagged for $35 and I'll sell the plated set they came with to cover my cost. That's it for story #1, story #2 will be in a separate post below:

 

On to story #2. I've been quite happily expanding my online searching for silver. I've developed some great techniques, and I'm pleasantly surprised with my finds so far. Today was no exception. Yesterday I saw a post advertising a "Silver Tea Set" which looked promising. It was posted for a very low sum ($75). I messaged the seller and asked if I could see a photo of the bottom of one of the pieces. I had to do this because they live two hours away from me, and it's not worth my time to drive that far unless I know what it was.

Later that night, the buyer basically informed me that they realized the set was much more valuable, as they saw the sterling mark on the bottom. My heart sank immediately, but then they messaged me with a higher price and asked if I was interested. I'm not going to mention what I paid, but I got a nice deal, especially considering what the set was. Drove out 2 hours today, paid the $$$$, and got my own "not so little" teapot set. The listing also came with a very nice and very large Reed and Barton plated tray that I'll sell to cover some of my expense. I hope you enjoy the photos of the "farm fresh" tea set. I've clearly got some polishing to take care of. The set weighs 3606 grams.

 

Bravo!

 

Wowwww!

 

A fairly modern bottle of about three ounces I picked up for $8 at a mostly overpriced estate sale on the second day

 

One down, three to go:

 

Gorgeous!

 

SO LOVELY Nate ... Great Buy !!! ... Joy.

 

I KNEW you'd start with the creamer!! I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, if I were you!

 

Haha, I told myself I would just polish the handle last night to see how it would look. Obviously I couldn’t just stop with a polished handle...

 

Of course not!

 

Thanks for sharing Terry, the maker seems to bring good $$ at market from what I have seen.

 

Oh wow ! That tea set is scrumptious! Well done as always,Silver Whisperer!

 

Thank you Johnny, I need to stop collecting so I can start polishing some of the finds!

 

You do such a fabulous job of bringing pieces back to life, don't stop collecting Mr Nate, all that unpolished silver needs to be found by you

 

Sorry it took so long, I finally completed my polishing chores, here's the set completed:

 

How fabulous! Id love to peek in your treasure room,like Ali Babas cave I bet !

 

I am GOBSMACKED !!! Beautiful Nate !!! that must have taken you a long time, very nice indeed ... Joy.

 

Thank you Johnny, I pinch myself everyday. I'm still shocked with all the goodies I've been fortunate to acquire. This set has to top the list. As for the treasure room, it would be more insane if I didn't get rid of everything earlier this year, but it's still amazing given my recent finds.

 

Thank you Christmasjoy. It absolutely took forever, but it was 100% a labor of love. I would just sit down in my recliner with q-tips mostly and polish and slowly make my way around an item. I don't like to cut corners polishing, because the first polish bringing an item out of tarnished storage is fairly important in my opinion. One good polish is much easier to maintain.