How to Calculate the Value of Your Sterling Silver

Sterling Silver is 92.5% silver.

With the price of silver and gold rising as the value of the dollar drops, this article shows you how to figure out how much your sterling silver is worth at the spot price for silver.

Things You'll Need

• A gram scale
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Getting Started.

   In order to calculate the value of your sterling silver at today's spot silver price the first thing to do is weigh your silver. I have an old U.S. postal scale that weighs up to 4 pounds and it works fine for me most of the time. A gram scale is also fine, but whatever unit of measurement your scale weighs in, you will need to convert that weight into troy ounces, which is the unit of measurement for silver and gold weight (and value)!

2. Converting the weight of your silver to Troy Ounces.

   Let's assume your sterling silver fork weighs 1 ounce on the postal scale. My postal scale has 16 Avoirdupois (U.S./British) ounces to a pound and there are only 12 troy ounces to a troy pound. How can I convert Avoirdupois ounces to troy ounces? If you convert both measurements to metric grams, we know that there are 28.35 grams in an Avoirdupois ounce and 31.1 grams in a Troy ounce. 28.35/31.1 = .911 Avoirdupois ounces to a troy ounce.

3. Do the math:

   Our fork weighs 1 ounce so it is .911 troy ounces. Sterling silver is 92.5% silver so we multiply .911 by .925 = .842675 troy ounce of silver in that one-ounce fork. Well then, how much is that silver fork worth in paper money? Simply multiply the weight in troy ounces of silver, in this case .842675 troy ounces, times the spot price of silver, which today is $14.75 per troy ounce, and we get $14.75 x .842675 = $12.43. Your fork has $12.43 cents worth of silver today.

Tips & Warnings

• You can find sites on the internet that will do the converting of Avoirdupois weights to troy weights very easily, but the trick is to remember two things. Weights are in troy ounces and sterling silver is 92.5% silver. Good luck in your search for precious metals.

• In 1900 one ounce of silver was worth a dollar. Today that ounce is worth $14.75 and rising. Is the value of silver actually rising, or is the value of paper money falling? Selling your silver now could be a major mistake, because that fork you're holding may be worth a lot more paper dollars in the not-too-distant future.