Shreve & Co.

Straight from Butterfly Lane, I have a question from a reader about a pair of candlesticks: PJ says he wants to sell the sticks you see in his photo, as they are not his wife’s taste, and have been inherited by him from someone to whom he had little connection. They are of significant weight and heft, as he also writes to me, and he knows, as he has also written to me, that the silver price today is at $23.83 per troy ounce. PJ wants to know how the resale market works in regard to selling a true fine antique piece of silver versus melting down. 

Because these sticks weigh so much, as he says in his email, PJ is thinking to sell them to a scrap dealer – to make a large profit! His question: what is the relationship of the smelt or scrap versus the antique value?

Weighing the candlesticks and multiplying this number by the “spot” price has resulted in PJ’s estimate of value. He is aware that pawn brokers, coin dealers, online smelters, and bullion companies, all buy to melt down. But he has not considered the base material of the candlesticks: they are “weighted,” as we will see, by a material that makes them heavy – but is not sterling.

Here is the challenge: Is the value of the antique piece of silver worth more than the scrap value? The candlesticks are not solid silver, so if you weigh them, you will be more than likely weighing the Plaster of Paris used to form the weight of the candlesticks. 

I asked if PJ could send me the markings on the base, because unless these sticks are sterling, they are not worth selling. Silver plate is hard to sell. I have advised him to look for the British sterling markings, which are four “touches” (stamps) that include a lion, or, if American, to look for “sterling” which may be stamped on the piece, or ‘.925’ stamped (which means the piece is sterling silver at 92.5% pure silver over a base metal which is often nickel or copper).

If you are in a similar quandary, email me and ask if the value of the piece is worth MORE as an antique than the value of silver in the scrap market. This scrap value changes daily! 

Now let us do a test case for JP’s candlesticks: they are stamped on the bottom ‘Shreve & Co., San Francisco,’ and also stamped ‘weighted.’ These pair date, judging by the design of the candlesticks, from the early 20th century, manufactured for Shreve & Company and originally sold in the Shreve & Company jewelry store in San Francisco. Shreve & Company was known for their great designs, especially in tableware, and was unique because they were designing for patrons on the West Coast. 

Founder George Shreve (1828-1893) and his nephew Samuel sailed for San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush, and upon their arrival in San Francisco, they established a jewelry shop, the first major jewelry concern on the West Coast, Shreve Jewelry Company on the corner of Montgomery and Clay streets. The company was connected with its Gold Rush roots, having been commissioned to design a 10-inch-tall solid gold Teddy Bear as a gift by the citizens of San Francisco for Teddy Roosevelt. 

Samuel, the nephew, died shortly after the establishment of the concern, and George then led the concern: when these sticks were purchased, the shop was located at 150 Post Street at Grant Avenue in San Francisco. I have no doubt the family travelled from Riven Rock to this store to purchase these candlesticks in 1910 or thereabouts.

By the 1860s, Shreve & Co. had established its reputation as the finest silver and goldsmiths on the West Coast. Many of the company’s spectacular pieces were collected by prominent families, and indeed PJ’s family was connected with the McCormick family, who had an estate in Riven Rock
in Montecito. 

I receive many questions about the value of weighted candlesticks, and the least valuable pieces of sterling are usually these weighted candlesticks – with significant exceptions: anything in sterling crafted by Tiffany, and most pieces by Shreve. As for British sterling, the older the better, so look for 18th century candlesticks which may be solid sterling, and look for chambersticks, which are usually a single candlestick of solid silver. 

The value of PJ’s pair of Shreve candlesticks is $700 antique value – but far less for scrap value.