Sterling silver is the highest per-dollar value category at most estate sales. Full flatware sets, tea services, candlesticks, and serving pieces routinely sell at estate sales for 60–80% of melt value, and far less than the secondary-market value of intact patterns. The reason is simple: most executors don't have time to inventory, identify, and research the silver, so it gets priced by guess. That gap is the buyer's edge.
Step one: confirm it's sterling
The fastest in-person tests are the visual mark check, the magnet test, and the weight check. Real sterling will be marked somewhere on the piece — flatware on the back of the handle, hollowware on the bottom — with one of: the word "STERLING," the number "925" (indicating 92.5% silver content), or a national hallmark (British lions, French Minerva heads, etc.). A magnet should not stick to silver; if it does, you're looking at a silver-plated steel piece. Real sterling has noticeable heft for its size — markedly heavier than plated equivalents.
Silver-plate is fine if the piece is decorative or you love the design, but it's worth a tiny fraction of sterling and you should never pay near sterling prices for it.
Step two: read the maker
American sterling makers are well-documented. The most-collected names — Tiffany, Gorham, Reed & Barton, Towle, International Silver, Wallace, Kirk Stieff — each have catalogued patterns with established secondary-market values. A Gorham Chantilly teaspoon has a different value from a Tiffany Audubon teaspoon, even though both are sterling. Take a photo of the maker's mark and pattern name, then check Replacements.com for current per-piece prices. You'll often discover that what's marked at $30 in the case has a $90 retail value as a single piece.
Step three: condition
Sterling does not rust, but it tarnishes and dents. Tarnish polishes off. Dents do not — at least not without an expensive trip to a silversmith. Look closely at every piece before buying: handles for splits, plates for warping, candlesticks for crushed bases. A polished, undented set is worth substantially more than a tarnished, dented one, even if the per-piece weight is identical.
Step four: sets vs. singles
A complete sterling flatware service for 12 (60 pieces or more) is worth substantially more than the sum of its pieces. A partial service — say, 6 dinner forks, 5 teaspoons, 3 butter knives — is worth piece-by-piece value, which can still be excellent. Resellers happily buy partial sets to fill in completer collectors' missing pieces. Don't pass on a great pattern just because the set isn't complete; partial sterling sets are often the best per-dollar finds at any estate sale.
What to actually pay
As a rough rule, sterling flatware at estate sales should run roughly 60–80% of the per-piece replacement value at Replacements.com, depending on condition and pattern. Sterling hollowware (tea services, candlesticks, bowls) often runs closer to weight value, especially in less-collected patterns, which is why hollowware is the silver category most resellers chase. Tea services can go for an extraordinary discount if the executor priced them as decor rather than as silver.