Who Needs Your Grandmother’s Silver

Remember your mother’s or grandmother’s silver service for 12 that she only used once or twice a year when the whole family showed up?

Remember when nobody else in the family would take it when she passed away–because who had the space or the desire to show off fancy dishes or silverware. And what a pain they were to wash because you couldn’t just stick them in the dishwasher. Also they were so darn heavy.

Then there was that big clunky wooden box they fit into. It did not deserve the space it took up.

Ten years ago silver was selling for $15 per troy ounce. It was a little more valuable than copper as scrap. Today it is worth over $90 per troy ounce making the scrap value around $9,000 for a set of 12 with a few serving pieces.

The price of a troy ounce of silver has tripled in the last year. In the first two weeks of 2026 it went up 30%.

Recently, I took a look at my Mom’s beloved set of Romance of the Sea, which my Dad bought for her in the 1950s. It was a stylish set of silversmithing, but I had almost forgotten that we inherited it after she died in 1990. Nobody else wanted it, I guess.

I doubt we’ve used it more than five times in 35 years. But we kept it because we had a spot for it and it reminded me of her. She loved “nice things,” like her fur coat and this silver service made by Wallace Silversmiths. Such things mean nothing to me except that they remind me of a kind, loving woman who used to yell “give the ball to Lloyd!” at my basketball games.

Now, in January of 2026, that rather garish set of knives, spoons, and forks is both a valuable collectible or a bushel of quite expensive scrap. The proceeds would feed a lot of poor people.

I did some research to figure out why silver prices have gone crazy. Industrial demand is growing rapidly because data centers need it to enhance power contacts for their huge electricity demands.

Solar panels use a “silver paste” in their cells. Electric vehicles and charging infrastructure use far more silver than gas cars. Defense and medical products also require silver. In essence, silver has become a tech metal and it is trading like a hot tech stock right now.

There are very few “silver mines.” Silver is mostly a byproduct of copper, lead and zinc mines. New mines take more than a decade to get permits in the United States.

Add to that the fear of inflation, money flowing out of Iran, Venezuela and other places seeking safe havens, plus silver’s accessibility for small investors and speculators.

With $90 silver today people like me are wondering if this is the time to cash in on those “absolutely gorgeous” spoons in the clunky wooden box.

I think my Mom would have kept it if she was with us. For me, the grandson of a scrap dealer born in Russia, it’s looking more and more like the time to sell it and give the money to people who really need it.

Question: What do you have stuck in a closet that you never use but might have value?