Buying Silver Antiques At Depressed Prices
Hi, Steemit friends!
I just bought this set at an e-auction at Blomqvist: Norway’s biggest auction house:
The item is Victorian antique silver made by Joseph & Albert Savory (London, 1838-39).
I bought it at about 1400 dollar. I find that a bargain considering that the items are sterling silver with total 2,25 kg of silver (1200 USD worth of silver).
Modified from different internet sources (Pushkin Antiques, Guide to Victorian antique silver:
In the Victorian Era (1837-1901) silver was much more valued than today, and large silver tables services was an essential requirement for aristocratic and emerging middle-class families.
Buying silver antiques have some interesting investment aspects. It is out of fashion (at least in Norway) so you can pick them up at a reasonable price with not that high premium above spot. Bullions have a somewhat artificial scarcity, that can easily be replicated by just change the design and make another series.
Silver antiques have a natural scarcity of being very old, that cannot be replicated.
Thus, silver antiques offer both a bet on the silver price and the antique market. As a libertarian, I find it appealing that there are not any capital gain taxes paid on antiques (as with wine and art) in Norway.
And they are nice to look at too. Tea anyone?
That's a nice purchase! If you hold onto them for a little while, I think your investment will pay off purely based on the silver spot price :)
Have you per-ordered a 2018 Steem round by the way? I was about to buy a few of them, but realized that it would get pretty expensive since they don't have a face value, and I would need to pay MVA and "fortollingsgebyr" on the package, so I had to only get one.
Thanks! Yes, I pre-ordered some rounds. Given the fact that Steem has appreciated a lot since then, the freight cost and the MVA you mentioned, they are going to be very expensive rounds:)
First of all , a great post for someone like myself who just got into silver. I should proberbly scroll down but wanted to comment on the steem rounds your speaking of.. there are official rounds made every year?
Im well interested in where this place is to get things like this, TAX FREE! im there, I knew there must be a way to get silver without paying some imaginary man made tax!
They look lovely also, alot of skill there, and from london :)
There are three ways to do it in Norway:
pick something up from the second-hand market cheaply (the VAT has already been paid by the first hand - the second-hand-price may of course be affected by the "artificially" high first-hand-price, but in Norway generally spoken, second-hand-stuff comes fairly cheap).
buy coins with a face value, those are considered legal tender (currency) and hence without any VAT.
buy it from another country where it's possible to buy silver without VAT, and smuggle it into Norway. Now this is illegal, it would be illegal for me to advice doing so, but it definitively belongs to the list on "how to avoid paying taxes" :-) Well, you can do it legally - buy your stash abroad in a country where they don't have VAT and leave it there. Also, within some limits one can buy things abroad and take it to Norway without having to declare it (8000 NOK? I don't remember).
Yeah, it became pretty expensive. I'm definitely sticking to buying silver with face value in the future, because rounds make very little financial sense when living in Norway. But of course I must make an exception for the Steem round :)
Beautiful pieces of silver history you got there, hopfully you preserve them rather than sell/scrap on this next silver bull run
Thanks! I am definitely not going to scrap them.
I know almost nothing about antiques. I am a coin collector and a silver/gold stacker, but this set is very beautiful. Congrats.
Thanks! I do believe there are fortunes to be made if the silver price ticks up.
Georgeous. beautiful get, thanks for sharing it. Didn't know that kind of scored was still possible. Appreciate your diligence and the inspiration. Peace and good-will.
Thanks:)!
Nice pickup of antique silver.
Thanks!
excellent...and see my latest posts...SILVER is now ON the launching pad. Watch.
Antique silver like this can be a bargain, its a pain to store and polish, but it is cheap for what it is.
What a beautiful piece of history! who was the silversmith? We have been sharing information on many of the famous silversmiths and really becoming interested in some historical silver art, guess it is time to do some internet searching!
Joseph & Albert Savory. I found some more of this silversmith for sale here, but much more expensive though: http://www.onlinegalleries.com/artists/d/joseph-albert-savory-london/9875
The handles must become very hot when using it for tea?
Is it one mug for tea and one for coffee, or is it one for strong tea and one for hot water to dillute the tea (Russian style)? (Was that a stupid question?)
Hi. I must confess I have not really used them according to their purpose yet. But silver is the best heat conductor of all metals so I would suspect the handles to get hot. Is that why the butlers wear gloves?
It is one mug for tea and one for coffee.
Beautiful! And the silver looks good too :)