Cleaning your silver

• 1). Clean your silver thoroughly. To achieve as exact an estimate as possible, you don't want any extraneous materials interfering with the process. Older silver will likely be tarnished--in order to best examine your silver, all of the tarnish will need to be removed.
  
  
• 2). Using the magnifying glass, carefully examine the silver. This will help you to determine whether the piece is sterling, which, according to law, must be 92.5% pure silver. Sterling silver will be identifiable by any number of markings, including "925" and "sterling".
  
  
• 3). Weigh the silver on the scale. One troy ounce, which is the measurement used to weigh precious metals such as silver and gold, is equivalent to approximately thirty-one grams. There are several online charts delineating the current market value of silver--for example, at Kitco or CNN.com. Please note that this pricing standard only applies to non-antique silver. For older silver, consult a collectibles guide.