Imagine walking out of a day of estate sales with nearly three quarters of a kilogram of sterling silver and a handful of gold, after spending less than the price of a decent used laptop. That is what reseller @Kelseyolivethrifts says happened when she spent a single day hunting through million dollar estate sales. She laid out just $559 and came home with 740 grams of sterling and 14 grams of gold.

Her day began at a sale where an 80 year jewelry collection was being sold at very low prices. Most of the gold and silver had already been pulled out, she says, but she had a feeling something was still hiding. Everything there cost under $10 each, and she dug for about 20 minutes before the better rings started to appear.

Her first real find was a gemstone ring with a 925 stamp that was easy to overlook because it was so worn.

How She Spots Real Silver And Real Stones

She teaches as she shops. Check the entire ring for a stamp, she says, because it may sit somewhere other than the band. She also looks closely at unstamped pieces, which can turn out to be vintage Native American or Taxco Mexican jewelry, and she set aside one pair that turned out to be alpaca silver rather than sterling.

Her gemstone tip is simple. A real stone is almost always cut out at the back so light can pass through, because people want to enjoy the color. A channel set stone with no openings behind it is, in her words, a cheap imitation. She also noticed pearls by their luminescent glow, and she says the glue marks around them told her the setting was not high quality.

She points out that costume jewelry deserves a look too. A pair by a high end designer brand can be rare, she says, and she advises opening every nice looking jewelry box, since a stash of sterling and gemstones had been hiding in one.

A $60 Silverware Set And A Lesson About Pushing Your Luck

The real money at that first sale, she says, was in a silverware set priced at $60. Most of it looked like silver plate, but she pulled out a spoon with a pattern of little dots that was popular in the 1800s and a well formed patina. Six pieces carried sterling stamps, and she guessed each weighed between 25 and 35 grams.

Then she shares the mistake she wants viewers to avoid. When you already have a great deal, she says, do not push it further. She asked whether she could buy only the non matching pieces, and the seller told her those would cost more once she looked closely. Her advice is that grabbing a few pieces out of a pile can make sellers take a closer look and raise the price. She ended up paying $100 for everything at that stop, and she says the people running it were laid back and cool.

Coasters For A Dollar A Box

A quick garage sale stop paid off too. She had seen a listing that mentioned a lot of silver plate, and in her experience there can be sterling hidden inside. She found sterling rimmed coasters for a dollar a box. She says she can get at least $50 for each set, especially since they were never used and still in their packaging.

She also picked up a $2 piece with a sterling floral pattern around its edge, which collectors buy even though the silver content is small. And she loaded up on brass at $1 to $2 each, choosing pieces that can hold jewelry or makeup because most of her customers are women, and leaving ashtrays and candle holders behind.

One Minute At The Jewelry Counter

The big sale came with a rule: every shopper gets one minute at the jewelry case. She went straight for sterling utensils and a solid gold thimble priced at $54, which she figured weighed at least three grams. A similar one cost $200, so she knew some items were priced higher and some lower.

She also grabbed a 14 karat sorority pin with a seed pearl and a ruby for $18, which she believes holds almost 2 grams of gold. She left behind a solid 14 karat watch head priced at $1,000 because she did not think she could flip it quickly. And at the last moment, in the top corner of the case, she spotted the piece of the day.

It was a Fred Harvey era vintage Navajo cuff bracelet. She explains that this style dates to roughly the 1930s through the 1950s, when pieces were made for tourists traveling through Arizona and the Southwest. She says they are hard to find now and worth hundreds.

The Final Count

Back home she weighed it all. The gold came to about 14 grams, and the sterling totaled 740 grams, which she says she paid roughly $250 to $300 for. The dessert spoons from 1901 weighed about 21 or 22 grams each. She also found a bent spoon, which she learned was designed for feeding a baby.

She sorted the rest, like the silver plated flatware she plans to list on Facebook Marketplace for about $40 to $50. Her biggest takeaway is to identify everything before you pay. She says that habit has saved her around $1,000 over time.

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