Shopping for Stieff Silver
If you came to this page from some place other than the home page, WELCOME! Be sure to check out all of the various pages noted above. The Introduction is normally the best place to start.
Princess Pattern, Gravy Ladle Handle
Shopping for STIEFF Silver
Ok, it is not 1950 and you can not put on your white gloves and hat, and go downtown to the Jewelry Store, the Better Department Store or if you were really lucky... the Stieff Showroom on North Liberty Street and buy your Stieff Silver anymore. Where are you going to find it now? Especially those closed patterns... Oops, Except for STIEFF ROSE, they are all closed patterns aren’t they?
Here are some resources for buying Stieff in the 21st Century
The sites I have listed are interactive, click on the name and you
will be taken to that site.
However, If you have come to this site from Wikipedia the links will not work because of Wikipedia’s “do not forward” policies. You can always copy and paste or go to the site directly by typing in the address.
If you buy from any of these companies,
please tell them where you heard about their shops.
HAPPY SHOPPING!
Stieff Rose is now “made to order” only, and will require a wait of several months to a year for the order to be delivered. All other Stieff patterns are discontinued.
It can be purchased directly from the manufacturer Lifetime Brands by visiting : www.lifetimesterling.com
Above are 26 of the 31 pieces available from Lifetime Sterling in the Stieff Rose pattern.
I am not compensated in any form for this information. I am just providing direction.
Lifetime Sterling’s Silver includes These Brands
John Lilly
at The Silver Matching Company runs a great service and his prices are very good. I personally have bought items from him and everything has been perfect. His father bought the Kirk and Stieff inventories from Lenox when they were moving Kirk-Stieff out of Baltimore. Some of the inventory is very OLD silver, and all is pre-1999, aged nicely from sitting in a warehouse. It has been packaged in plastic wrappers to prevent damage. Often his prices beat Ebay John packages carefully and ships the silver fast too. He carries many brands of silver including true antique items.
John Lilly has provided some of the information on this site including the 1939 Stieff Catalog.
Note: Mid June 2011, John’s inventory of Stieff silver is running very low. The run up of silver prices this spring resulted in a lot of scrap buyers buying up his well priced inventory. Shop quick while there is still some left.
Click below to go to start shopping at
The Antique Cupboard is in Waukesha WI and has a massive amount of silver. It is not a retail store, but they can make arrangements if you are in the area to show you pieces. The website is fairly easy to use too. Take a look, good prices too.
I find searching by pattern, and not manufacturer works better on this site.
Baltimore’s Historic Antique Row is the home of
The Imperial Half Bushel
The Duggan’s have a treasure trove of antique silver and are always willing to answer questions. Their web site is
Well worth the look, a great variety of silver.
Personally, I LOVE shopping there, They have a vast wealth of knowledge for Baltimore Silver and silver in general... well worth the visit in person.
Another website to check out is
I think that they have a ton, make that several tons (literally) of silver on hand. Also a great resource when trying to identify patterns that you are clueless on as they have good photos of the silver items.
ANTIQUE SHOPS
are a great source. Be sure to ask at the counter if they have any STIEFF silver. Often shops keep the good silver out of site waiting for someone to ask. If they do not carry silver... ask if they know of any shops in the area that do. Dealers will normally know who the “silver people” are.
Pawn Shops
Yes, I said pawn shops. They can be a bit seedy and not always in the best parts of town. So let your fingers do the walking and make a few phone calls in advance. Sometimes the people don’t know one pattern or maker from the next one. Those are often the ones to go to as they may not know what they have. Ask about inventories on the phone... they may tell you,
... And haggle with them. Some of the silver has been hanging around in pawn shops for years. Think of pawn shops as a flea market.
Coin Shops
Now that you have said...Huh? Let me explain. Many coin shops buy and sell silver. Often they are going to melt the silver down. So, if they can sell a piece at more that the scrap value of the silver.. all the better for them. Many are not going to know the pattern names, so make a call and see if they have any silverware to sell, then make the trip down to the shop to see if your pattern is in the pile before it gets melted. Bring a photo of your pattern. Perhaps they will post it on the wall in the back room and call you when more of that pattern comes in.
If you do not mind having these pieces mixed into your service, that is your choice. Just know that they were not originally “made” that way by Stieff. I own some of them myself.
Another example of “re-crafted” silver is a often a product of damaged silver. What does one do with the spoon or fork that gets mangled in the garbage disposal or slammed in a drawer and bent? It can get melted down or “re-crafted” into something new.
A Wisconsin company has a very good silversmith that takes spoons and makes “lobster picks” out of them. Look at the outside tines of these pieces and you can see the little lobster claws made into the silver. They make a variety of “specialty” items, and are available on their site.
My only caution here is that the resulting product is a bit softer and more prone to bend, so use carefully.
Above lobster picks from my collection of Stieff silver.
I bought them at www.antiquecupboard.com
This site, www.thestieffcompany receives no money or compensation from any of the references or companies listed on this site. We wish to thank others for the use of material from their sites and it is published here as an educational tool only. We encourage visitors to venture to the other sites shown on this one to learn more about silver and view the images of craftsmanship that they share with all of us. Ad revenues from the google ads helps me maintain this site for the use by silver collectors and those who are just “wondering” about grandmothers silver and what’s what in the silver chest.
Thank you
Old Department Stores
Some “Better” small town dept. stores once carried sterling, but few do these days. However some still have old inventory buried in the back room, so look for older employees that might know what you are talking about. “Those 20 something” clerks will not have a clue what you are saying.
You could also add to your facebook page that you collect Stieff Silver. You never know... you might know someone looking to sell grandmothers silver.
WARNING WARNING WARNING
Make sure that when you are buying sterling silver flatware that it actually says
Sterling Stieff on the back of the handle.
Stieff did start making some patterns in Silver Plate starting in the 1970’s and Kirk-Stieff made more in the 1980’s.
Some sellers on Ebay, and in places like pawn shops, etc. are not always aware of this and from time to time I have seen pieces that are not marked Sterling Stieff being hawked as
Sterling Silver, so buyer beware!
Personal Taste
(Editorial)
There are also some pieces that you will see in “shops” out there on Ebay, on some of the silver sites or replacement stores that are “re-created” silverware. Workmen take the hollow handles of Stieff and various other makers knives and attach new parts on order. A classic example is the hooded asparagus server that you see in a lot of places for 45-125 dollars. Others are cake knives, salad tools, punch ladles etc.
Old Jewelry Stores
Jewelry stores used to be one of the places you could go to buy sterling silver flatware. Some of the older shops still have a few pieces laying around in the back room. Making a call or stopping in when you see these older
“main street” stores can certainly be worth your time. Old china and Crystal patterns also lurk in the corners of these stores too so look for your other table top patterns also.
Ebay
Ebay is where you can find almost anything these days. If you are diligent at shopping Ebay you can get a lot of good deals on silver.
The best way is to search several different ways. Search for Stieff and your pattern name, but also just by Stieff and keep checking in the just listed. I check several times a day. I do that because some people who are selling on Ebay do not always know the pattern, or they have it close but not right. Princess pattern is often listed at Hand Chased Rose. I see a lot of “Stieff Repoussé” listed but no pattern given. So you might get a better deal if the person selling is clueless. Some listing say things like “Stieff, pretty floral pattern” or “Stieff flatware, fork”.
Check often and you might get a deal, especially if they have a buy it now price that is a good deal for you. Also look at the shipping prices, some places have high shipping & handling.
Make sure you spell Stieff correctly, i before the e. If you spell it Steiff you are going to be looking at a lot of teddy bears. That said, you will find listings for STEIFF silver that might go cheaper because the seller spelled Stieff wrong. Their Oops! is your good luck.
Other places that you can look:
Craigslist
(under household items)
The local newspaper
Estate Sales
Consignment Shops
Thrift Stores
(normally in the glass cases at the checkout, but dig through the silver plate and stainless bins too....you never know)
Replacements Ltd.
The granddaddy of silver replacement. For 30 years they have been able
to match buyers with old silver, china and crystal. So, when the kids break that heirloom plate or mangle a piece of silver in the garbage disposal...
Here you can find almost any piece of silver that you would want. Prices seem to go up and down depending on the availability and season. They also buy silver.
My only gripe.. minor as it is, is that they lump all STIEFF silver and all KIRK silver under the one name KIRK-STIEFF. Since Kirk made a ROSE pattern and STIEFF made a ROSE pattern.. this can get confusing.
beverlybremer.com
A real silver shop that you can open the front door and walk inside... not many of these exist anymore.
Huge selection of silver, including Stieff of course. Prices appear to be reasonable. I have not actually shopped there... but my day will come. A true silver shop including Hollow Ware
