The idea of buying scrap is actually brilliant – in case you thought otherwise! It is not always that selling gives the best profits. Buying scrap silver is one of the best ways of investing and putting your money into something that guarantees you a high return.

What is scrap silver?

It can be defined as anything that has silver in it or is made out of silver. For example,

Broken silver jewelry

Discarded silver wares

Dumped printed circuit boards(PCB) – e-waste

Silver watches

Silver nuggets

Silver clock parts, etc.

These items are mostly junk and can be found mostly in junkyards. But relax, we do not want you to go on a junkyard hunting trip! There are dealers who sell junk and scrap too.

Types of scrap silver available

More commonly, the silver is extracted from these pieces of seemingly useless junks and later sold at a very nominal rate. One might argue that since gold gives higher returns; why not try for buying scrap gold? That is fine, but here we want to discuss about the lesser known but highly lucrative market of scrap silver. The scrap is mainly available in:

Bars: where solid silver can be obtained

Flakes: mainly from PCBs and other articles where silver usage is minimal.

Chips: same as the above

Coins: this is interesting considering that history has seen silver coins being used as forms of currency. Apart from holding a value for the metal used, they have a great historical value as well!

What makes scrap silver unique?

In simple words, it is the value and the ease of extraction that makes it a unique metal. Pure metal extraction from other alloys is not at all easy. Even a child can extract silver from junk – provided he is guided properly. But before venturing out, we would advise you to do some homework on the type of metal to expect and how to identify pure silver from others. One of the main factors that work in favour of scrap silver is that it’s cheaply available in junk markets.

Investing in scrap silver

As already mentioned, this is a high return area. More if you have the idea to turn a piece of useless silver junk into something of art! That hardly requires any investment –only your ideas and your brain. Moreover, if you’ve found a piece of history, you can properly market it to earn thousands.

Other factors to keep in mind are that you need a good guide first. This area is a field of experienced and the more you hunt, the better you’ll become. Check for the current value of silver, before going out to buy. And remember on golden rule – buy cheaply and sell at a higher price!