Melt value
£0
At £1.59 per gram fine, 19 September 2026
Tool
Scrap silver calculator
Melt value is the floor under any piece of silver. Weigh it, choose the standard, and see whether the object is worth more than its metal.
Scrap silver calculator
Weigh the piece and choose the standard. The result is what the metal alone is worth.
For comparison
£180 to £1,150
What Georgian teapots of about 600g have made at auction
Most British silver is sterling. A refiner pays a little under melt. A saleroom estimate depends on maker, date and condition, which is what the guides cover.
How the number is worked out
Weight in grams, multiplied by the fineness of the standard, multiplied by the price of fine silver per gram. Sterling is 925 parts in a thousand, so a 600 gram sterling teapot contains 555 grams of pure silver. Britannia is 958. Most continental silver is 800 or 835.
The spot price on this page is set by hand and dated beneath the result. A refiner pays a little under spot, and a high-street buyer pays less again. Treat the figure as a ceiling for scrap, not an offer.
When scrap is the right answer
Damaged pieces, odd single spoons, plain modern hollowware and items with removed monograms sell at or near melt at auction, and the refiner is quicker. Anything with a good maker, an early date or a desirable form should be checked against the price records first. The scrap or auction guide walks through the decision.
Weigh with a kitchen scale, and take off anything that is not silver: a wooden handle, a glass liner, a weighted candlestick base filled with pitch. Weighted pieces are marked "loaded" or "weighted" and contain far less silver than the scale suggests.