To be straight with you: we do not have a shop in Chester. InstaSilver is a Sheffield business and we buy by post from anywhere in the UK. That is why we can pay 80% of live spot rather than the lower rates a high street counter has to offer to cover its premises. Postage is free and tracked both ways, and anything we cannot buy is returned to you free.
A closed office with a following
Chester received its assay office by an Act of Parliament in 1700 and closed in August 1962. For two and a half centuries it served silversmiths across Cheshire, North Wales, Liverpool and the North West, who would otherwise have sent work to London or, after 1773, Birmingham.
Chester silver has a dedicated collector base for exactly the reason Glasgow does: the supply is closed. Late Victorian and Edwardian Chester pieces are the most actively collected, and a Chester mark can carry a meaningful premium over the identical piece marked in Birmingham or London, though the premium is usually modest rather than transformative. Eighteenth-century Chester flatware is genuinely scarce and worth proper identification.
If your piece has a Chester mark and is in reasonable condition, it is one of the cases where we would rather you checked its collector value first. We will identify it free and return it if you would rather sell it elsewhere.
Reading a Chester hallmark
The town mark is the city arms: a sword between three wheatsheaves. Older Chester pieces also carry a leopard's head alongside the lion passant, struck crowned until 1809 and uncrowned until 1839, after which the provincial offices stopped using it.
A full Chester row typically reads: maker's mark, lion passant, wheatsheaves town mark, date letter. Any Chester mark dates the piece to 1962 or earlier.
What silver pays today
The same flat rate applies wherever you are. These figures recalculate from the live spot price:
| Typical lot | Sterling weight | We pay |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed jewellery | 80g | £— |
| Odd flatware | 300g | £— |
| Six-place canteen | 1,400g | £— |
| Tea service with tray | 2,500g | £— |
Sterling holds £— of silver per gram at today's spot price, and we pay 80% of that: £— per gram. Put your own weight into the live calculator for an exact figure.
Selling from Chester
Weigh your silver in grams and enter it for a live quote. Accepting locks that rate for 48 hours, and a free Royal Mail QR label appears immediately: no printer needed, the Post Office counter scans it from your phone. Every item is XRF tested and weighed at our Sheffield workshop, and payment is made by Faster Payments within 48 hours of your parcel reaching us. Full detail is on how it works.
Frequently asked questions
What does a wheatsheaf mark on silver mean?
A sword between three wheatsheaves is the Chester Assay Office town mark, from the city arms. It dates the piece to 1962 or earlier, because the office closed that August.
Is Chester silver more valuable?
To collectors it can be, because no new Chester silver can be made. The premium over an equivalent London or Birmingham piece is usually modest, and largest on recognised Chester makers, eighteenth-century flatware and desirable Edwardian forms. For scrap value it pays the same as any other sterling.
Why did the Chester assay office close?
Declining volume. As silver production centralised on Birmingham and Sheffield, the smaller provincial offices lost the work that sustained them. Chester was the last English provincial office to go.
Do you cover Chester, Cheshire and North Wales?
Yes, and the whole of the UK mainland. Free tracked Royal Mail postage both ways, a flat 80% of live spot, and payment within 48 hours of your parcel reaching us.