Oakton Coins buys all forms of silver from Chicago.

It’s always smart to shop around when selling your old silver jewelry especially in the Chicago area. The 12-minute trip to Skokie to sell your silver is well worth your time because we have much lower overhead than other Chicago silver buying shops. Give us a call at (224) 563-5684. It does not matter what a jewelry store charged you for your everyday non-luxury brand silver. Silver price is based on weight. Household sterling or silverware includes tableware, cutlery, and other household items made of sterling silver. Sterling silver flatware is made of an alloy containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper. The copper gives it strength, since pure silver is too soft. To be marked “sterling,” it must have a minimum of 92.5% pure silver (although some older pieces use lower amounts of pure silver such as  .800 – 80% and .500 – 50%). Silver requires a good deal of care; it tarnishes and must be hand polished often. Sterling silver (or otherwise) must be refined to .999 pure silver. Only then it can be used for applications like medicine, electronics, brazing alloys, chemical equipment, catalysis, and photography.