All that glitters is not necessarily gold or silver

Carrying a bag filled with blackened silver plates and cups, Yoka Wulder hoped to get lucky.

“I was just cleaning my basement,” she said. With metal prices skyrocketing and an antiques roadshow in town, she thought now might be the time to cash in.

So far, more than 250 Calgarians have visited the Great Canadian Roadshow held at the Day’s Inn on Macleod Trail. Not affiliated with the popular television program, this show represents collectors looking to buy rare coins, toys and instruments.

Most seemed to leave disappointed: one man claiming to have a silver dollar listed as worth $9,500 in the newspaper walked off after a few minutes with an appraiser, cigarettes in hand.

Often, people think their collectibles are worth a mint. Often times they are wrong.

“A lot of fake coins are coming out of China right now,” said show manager Shane Pye. “Bills, as well. We see a lot of counterfeit bills, old Confederate bills from the 1800s. Most of them are fake.”

Pye said that when it comes to used items, there are no standard prices on this planet.

“With used items, it’s what you’re willing to sell for, or what a collector is willing to pay,” he said. “Even gold is fluctuating by the minute.”

Most come in with coin collections, Pye said.

Although the uncertain economic times have pushed up the price of gold and silver, the recession has hurt sellers, he said.

As people have been laid off, more are selling their china and statues.

Pye said a 50- to 60-piece setting from a noted china-maker can now be found for about $100.

“There are two reasons to collect: one is for interest and the other is for value,” he said. “If you’re collecting for value, you need to do your homework.”

Just because an item is old doesn’t mean it will fetch a pretty sum, he said.

It must be rare or have a good story.

For example, in 1921 to 1935 the United States minted more than 100 million Peace dollars.

“There’s only one of them that’s rare,” Paye said. “That’s the one that Neil Armstrong took to the moon and back. All the others are common as dirt.”

That seems to have been the case for Wulder, who walked away from the auctioneers, bag of silver in tow.

“I’m disappointed,” she said. “It’s all silver plated.”

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Posted by Silver Guru on Dec 18 2011. Filed under Silver Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry