Selling Scrap Silver

Scrap silver and scrap metal is serious business. If you don't think that is the case, just ask the transportation authority for a city like Washington D.C. Each month passengers in the DC Metro system leave behind an unimaginable amount of keys on buses and trains. These keys likely fell out of pockets or were being tossed and jangled and somehow got free of someone's hand. The Washington Post reported that the DC metro system gives patrons 30 days to come to reclaim their keys, and after that time has elapsed, the keys are forfeited. After one month, metro authorities sell the keys for scrap and reap the monetary benefits. You many look at a small piece of metal like one key or one silver coin and wonder how much money a person could get for it, but you'd be surprised. In the case of the DC metro authority they have a large volume of keys and other objects to sell for scrap.

If you want to get an idea of how much cash for silver a person can get, check out a website like http://www.thebulliondesk.com/ to learn about the market price of silver.

But you don't have to go scrounging around on buses to find scrap silver. You may have bags of old coins around the basement. Or if someone in your family was once into photography, you may have another potential source for scrap silver. Old photographic paper that has not been used (this is key) contains silver. Not to mention, old jewelry like silver earrings, silver chains, silver brooches, and old silver watches.

As far as silver coins are concerned, these are considered scrap based on the amount of wear and tear they have been through. Uncirculated silver coins in pristine condition are rather rare. You can look at some of your old silver coins and see that they have most likely passed through a few hands and more than a few cash registers. These coins may not be perfect for a coin collector, but they are perfect to sell as scrap silver.