Why Sterling Silver?
My sister Buff and I come by our passion for silver naturally – our mother and both of our grandmothers loved and collected silver. I remember going to antique shows with my mother as a child and watching her scour the booths for beautiful vintage sterling silver at good prices. Each grandmother - although from very different backgrounds - took pride in setting a lovely table with her cherished silver, china, crystal and linens.
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When Buff and I moved in together many years ago, we began to use our sterling silver every day. When entertaining we relished bringing out all the sterling trimmings - from open salts and spoons to cocktail pitchers and stirrers to platters and vases. We cherish some silver that is purely ornamental, but for the most part we focused on silver that we could actually use. We also realized we had more silver than we could possibly need and use - even if we had company over daily. Buff and I actually began in the silver business in 2010 by selling select items from our personal silver collection.
Gradually we started to buy sterling for resale as well. Most of our Caspar's Place inventory now comes from customers and “pickers” whom we deal with at our physical location at the Raleigh Flea Market in Raleigh, NC. We find that customers sell their silver to us for many different reasons. They have inherited silver in which they have no interest; they are tired of polishing and caring for their silver; they have no one to leave their silver to who has any interest in it; or they simply need the money. Some people are just refining their silver collections. For whatever reason people sell to us, it enables us to offer wonderful sterling to others, who will in turn love what they buy from us. |
Buff and I make a point of researching each piece of silver that we offer for sale. I enjoy exploring silver and its makers and patterns and history. I find out many details about much of the silver, although on rare occasions I find out nothing. I feel that every piece of information I am able to offer our customers about our silver adds value to it and is worth the effort.
We enjoy getting to know our Caspar's Place customers both as people and as collectors. People of all types love and collect silver. Buff and I find that some have an emotional response to silver and to their own collections, while others look at silver and their collections as a purely financial investment. Most people fall somewhere in between. Buff and I pride ourselves on both buying and selling at fair prices that enable everyone involved to benefit - sellers, buyers and of course us. We don’t price for scrap, and we hope that our customers will cherish and use the silver they buy from us rather than melting it. Every day we learn a lot both about sterling silver and about people from our venture into selling silver at Caspar's Place, and the learning process is rewarding. |
Check out a small portion of our extensive silver inventory on the Galleries page for silver.
To find out more about your own silver, take a look
at our Silver Resources page.
To find out more about your own silver, take a look
at our Silver Resources page.