I think the problem is compounded by the potential for fraud - we've all seen the fake bullion on eBay masquerading as "999 silver", e.g. german silver, 100 mills silver, etc etc. These are commercially manufactured products - there's nothing to stop home refiners from delivering similar fake bars labeled 925 silver. With a 999 silver bar from a known refiner (e.g. SBA, Perth Mint) it's backed by the integrity of the brand - you only have to watch out for counterfeits. But with a no-name brand, there's nothing to trust except the 925 number, personal knowledge of the providence & source (lost the first time it's onsold), apart from repeated testing on each sale.
I can only really see a market for 925 bars in the jewellery trade, and even then there are suppliers for the various gauges of 925 wire used in necklaces and such. TBH, if I was buying less than 999 silver I'd go for predecimal coins that have a known weight and purity courtesy of the Commonwealth Government of Australia. As far a shifting blobs of scrap sterling silver that was purchased cheaply, I think you'd probably be better off getting a big pile of it together and sending it off to a (reputable) refiner to get it made into 999 bars. I'm sure there are costing that people have previously obtained floating around on the forum somewhere, but if you budget for 10% of the ASW then any scrap you pick up 10% or more under spot is profitable and your new, pure metal is in a tradeable form (with a premium over spot).
Well at least with Florins,50c rounds etc we know that they are (99% of the time) legit Sterling... .925 so theres no on sell issues. Like GP said ...im picturing "blow torch to Nannas spoons in the back shed" = Dodge City
And 92.5% is worth more at spot huh ? People do it all the time with Gold just based on a stamp , 9. 18. 22. carat etc , 925 silver coins already have a market out there . I can see 92.5% increasing in popularity as the spot price gets higher over time but to me it would come down to either testing and knowing that it is infact what it purports to be or placing trust in the reputation of a seller .
