About Michelle Lieberman Expertise My expertise is in the area of American sterling silver and coin silver flatware and holloware, including identifying silversmiths and makers, types and patterns of flatware and their usage. I am unable to answer questions pertaining to silverplate or foreign silver.
Experience With over 25 years experience in selling vintage silver, I now devote much of my time educating others in this field.
Education/Credentials BA California State University Los Angeles
I have a set of New Queen's Sterling made by The Durgin Co and sold by Bailey banks and Biddle. It was a wedding gift in 1903 (Engraved on back) I have 12- 12 piece place settings which I am interested in getting an idea of it's value. I looked at Replacements and found the knives sell for around $100+ each. Does having a complete set increase the value? Does it make a difference that this set was made over a hundred years ago as opposed to the 1990's. Thank you
Answer Hello Carol.
There are actually a number of different values when trying to determine what something is worth: fair market value, retail value, auction value, insurance value. Going to a flatware replacement company and adding up the individual prices to get a total is good for coming up with an insurance value, but that's about it. Replacement companies charge premium prices for what they have because they're selling to people who normally need to replace one or several pieces that have been damaged. Someone wouldn't go there to buy a whole set piece by piece, it's too cost prohibitive.
The same thing goes with selling it. Yes, it's feasible you could sell of each piece one by one, but it's not practical. So in other words, the complete set is worth less than the individual parts.
But don't fret, this is normal. Just think about it as if you were buying an individual place setting. A 4-piece luncheon setting goes for about $180. If you bought those same four pieces one by one you would pay around $260.
Yes, your set has more value because it's antique.
So having said all that, at a good high-end auction you could expect your magnificent set to sell in the $4000 to $6000 range. You would want to insure it for $8000.
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