Setting the stage:
I found a stash of silver-plated ice buckets on the curbs when salvaging items from recycling bags a few years ago. Most notable was a Christofle ice bucket stamped with large Grand Marnier logo. What made this amazing was that it was also stamped with the Hotel Ritz in France with a serial number.
After bringing this to a Christofle store, their expert researched the serial number and confirmed that this was from 1898, and issued for the Hotel Ritz's grand opening in Paris. Woah!
I still haven't listed this yet as it's quite a treasure to me. It may be worth $500 to some, or $1,000 to others, but I want to contact the Hotel Ritz in Paris about it to see if they'd like to bring it back. I figure that the Grand Marnier branding would also raise its value.
While I found several other branded antique ice buckets/champagne buckets with this, a simple yellowed metal serving tray stamped with a cafe's name from Wien, Austria was also in the batch. I almost left it, but did take it since it felt wrong to put it back. I knew it was old.
Over the years, this simple tray was never cleaned or listed. I debated tossing it at times or including with some thrift store donations since it seemed pretty unassuming. It was stamped with a brand name and a few symbols, but I'll admit that I simply wrote it off as being a basic piece because I didn't see a .925 stamp. Common silver plate isn't that great unless it's got history to it like the one above.
Funny enough, I actually kept it just by my bed for a year by a bookshelf on the floor, with no plans to do anything with it. It just sat there on its side propped between the bookshelf and a rotation of salvaged textbooks I sell.
A bit of luck:
Thankfully I sold a salvaged 26.5 pound vintage mirror for $200 cash last week to someone who was eager to buy more antiques for their new apartment. They asked me what else I had and I've been building a list of hard-to-sell vintage items she wants me to deliver to her. Bingo!
Since they're building out a bar, they asked if I had any barware or serving trays. It was at this point, I remembered two larger branded silver-plated ice buckets I had. I went ahead and polished them for hours each to bring them back to life (pictures will be below). The buyer loved the first one and we struck a deal. I didn't ask for much to keep her feeling comfortable, and since she just handed me $200 cash. She's debating the second one since it has some dings, but I'm glad that I finally polished them.
As I was brainstorming what else I had in terms of barware for her, the tray came to mind. I got it in my hands for the first time in a while and examined it with more purpose. While I couldn't find any information on the Cafe it was stamped with, I researched the Herrmann manufacturer stamp and the A and left-facing lion symbols next to it. Since it didn't have any silver content figures, I had to look up symbol charts, which are actually on rather old pieces.
Despite the tray being yellowed and dull, it was at this time that I realized I might have something pretty good. The reason was because the lion stamp faced left and my large extremely strong magnet barely even stuck (to the point I could glide it around).
This translates to STERLING SILVER! A lot of it! Boom.
It weight 1 pound 5.6 ounces That's a total of 21.6 ounces. For standard value, you take the price of silver per ounce ($22.22 now) and multiple by the number of ounces, and then by .925.
That's $444 just based on silver value!!
The best part is that this doesn't take into account the rare Cafe stamp from Wien, Austria, and the date of likely before 1906 (after which stamped became much more uniform). Odds are that it's from the late 1800's. That means that I can ask for a bunch more to reflect its age, brand and provenance!
Here are pictures of the before and after, as well as the ice buckets.
As a bonus, I've also included some pure silver offering bowls I've previously posted about that may be from Burma, also found outside.
I have a lot of Sterling Silver jewelry and random antique items with .925 on it. I've sold some of them over the year, but had the vast majority building up in several mugs.
The unassuming tray before I got to work:
This was the top after starting to scrub it with silver polish, then using baking soda/tin foil/hot water. It wasn't cleaning up and taking way too much energy. My hands still feel like I got a workout while I'm typing this.
I ultimately had to turn to Barkeeper's Friend since it was so deeply tarnished and covered in layers of a polish-resistant residue/film (i.e. years of stuff). The bottom took me over an hour before using silver polish and it wasn't even doing a good job. The baking soda trick helped a bit, but there was way too much tarnish. Barkeeper's Friend worked like cutting through butter.
Here are the pics with it fully polished. I have terrible overhead lighting in my hallway, so I can't get immaculate pictures for my post now. I'll improve them for my official listing later.
Just imagine pure sheen and shine like it was made. There are only a few minor marks on it. Given its age and that I found it on a sidewalk, I'll consider that a huge win.
These are the stamps:
Has anyone familiar with Austria heard of that cafe in Wien from the late 1800's or early 1900's?
I'll have to research potential pricing. I may ask for $1000
Bonus footage:
Here are the ice buckets I recently found and cleaned for the buyer. The first will be sold. These are not the rare old ones I found with the tray. I'll save those for another post.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Found (3 pure silver bowls and .925 vase):
Polished:
Pretty right? The elephants also have some form of gold plating or foil around them. No idea of value.
This is the product of passion and hard work. It pains me to know that antiques like these get crushed on trucks all over my city. I simply do what I can with my bare hands.
Unhappy with the environment? Do something about it.
Who said you can't turn trash into treasure? I do it all the time and so can you if you start looking and put consistent effort into it.
