Silver
Scrap Silver Prices UK: What You'll Actually Get Per Gram for 925 & Cutlery (2026)
Silver gets almost no honest coverage from the big UK gold sites — so here's the piece they never wrote. Whether it's a canteen of sterling cutlery, old coins or scrap 925, this is what you'll really get.
Start with the melt value
Sterling silver is 92.5% pure (925). At a silver spot around £29–30/oz, sterling melt works out to roughly £0.85–0.90 per gram of item weight. Fine silver (999) is a touch higher; Britannia (958) sits between. Our silver calculator shows the live per-gram figure for each standard.
Why silver payouts run lower than gold
Here's the catch: because silver is worth so much less per gram than gold, the dealer's fixed costs (testing, refining, handling) eat a bigger proportion of each item's value. So realistic payouts on scrap silver are often lower in percentage terms than gold — commonly 60–85% of melt for decent lots, less for small or mixed ones. A £40 melt canteen might fetch £25–34. Volume helps: dealers pay better per gram on a full canteen than on a single fork.
Hallmarked vs unmarked
- Full UK hallmark (lion passant + assay mark): instantly verifiable, best payout.
- "925" or "STERLING" stamp only: accepted but sometimes discounted, as it needs testing.
- "EPNS" / "A1" / "silver plated": not solid silver — electroplated base metal with negligible scrap value. Check before you get your hopes up.
Coins and Britannias
Pre-1947 UK coins contain 50% silver; pre-1920, 92.5%. Silver Britannias are 999 and, as legal tender, are CGT-exempt like their gold cousins. These often sell better to coin buyers than to scrap refiners.
Getting a fair price
- Separate solid silver from plate (EPNS) first — don't weigh them together.
- Weigh the sterling lot and check melt on the calculator.
- Set the payout slider to your buyer type to see the realistic number.
- Sell in bulk where you can, and compare an online refiner against a local coin/antique dealer.
Silver is lower-value than gold, but the same rule applies: know the melt and the realistic payout before anyone makes you an offer.
All figures are estimates of melt value, never offers. Not financial or tax advice.