You’re sailing. The sun is setting over the Shores of Plenty, turning the water into a bruised purple, and your hull is heavy with loot. But you aren’t looking for Captain’s Chests or Skulls of Destiny. You’re looking for a very specific, very elusive set of trinkets. Most players call them junk. Hardcore completionists call them a nightmare. We’re talking about Keg Leg’s Silver Spoils, a collection of silvered artifacts that have driven many a Pirate Legend toward madness.
It’s weird. In a game where you can fight massive krakens and summon ghost fleets, some of the hardest things to find are small, shiny household items.
What is Keg Leg’s Silver Spoils anyway?
Basically, it’s a specific "set" of treasure items found within Sea of Thieves. Specifically, these are the Silvered Cup, the Old Silver Mug, the Silvered Urn, and the Silvered Casket. On their own, they’re just Treasure Artifacts. You sell them to the Gold Hoarders. You get some gold. You get some reputation. Big deal, right?
Wrong.
The "Keg Leg" moniker comes from the commendations and the specific lore tied to the Hoarder’s Hunt and various Mercenary Voyages over the years. This isn't just about the gold value. If you’re just looking at the gold, these things are disappointing. A Silvered Cup might net you a couple hundred gold coins. That's nothing. A single Fortress Skull is worth way more. But for the players chasing the "Hoarder of Silvered Spoils" commendation, these items are the holy grail.
You need to sell hundreds of them.
Honestly, the grind is brutal because there is no "Silvered Artifact Island" where you can just go and dig them up. You find them by accident. You find them while you're looking for something better. That's the irony of the pirate life—you spend your early hours praying for a Chest of Legends, and your final hours praying for a dusty old mug.
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Why finding these items feels like a chore
The RNG (random number generation) in Sea of Thieves is a fickle beast. You can go three sessions without seeing a single Silvered Urn. Then, you'll hit a random shipwreck and find four of them sitting in the kitchen.
Most people get it wrong by thinking they should just do high-level Vaults. If you’re a Pirate Legend, your voyages are "too good." The game scales your loot. You’ll find Gilded or Ornate artifacts because the game thinks it's doing you a favor. To find Keg Leg’s Silver Spoils, you often have to "downgrade" your expectations.
The Shipwreck Strategy
Shipwrecks are arguably the most consistent source for silvered items. Because shipwrecks spawn loot from a wider pool of "tier" levels, you aren't restricted by your own high level. You dive down, fight a shark, and check the barrels. You check the floor. You check behind the captain's desk.
- Look for birds circling low.
- Check the "junk" piles on the decks.
- Don't ignore the small glints in the sand nearby.
Sometimes the best way to get these is to just stop being an elite pirate for a second. Go back to basics. Small islands. Random X-marks-the-spot maps found in barrels. These low-stakes activities are the breeding ground for silver.
The Lore of the Hoarder’s Hunt
A lot of people started caring about these items during the "Hoarder’s Hunt" mystery. This was a massive, community-wide ARG (Alternate Reality Game) orchestrated by Rare. It involved real-world clues, hidden websites, and in-game puzzles that were genuinely difficult.
H is for Hoarder.
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The mystery followed the trail of "H," who we eventually learned was tied to the history of the Gold Hoarders and the greedy corruption that defines them. Keg Leg’s Silver Spoils became a focal point because the hunt required players to interact with the world in a way they hadn't in years. It wasn't about the "meta." It was about the tactile feel of the world.
Think about the name "Keg Leg." It sounds like a joke, a classic Rare Ltd. pun. But in the context of the Hoarder’s Hunt, every silvered item was a breadcrumb. Some players believe these items are the "discarded" wealth of the original Hoarders—the stuff that wasn't gold enough to satisfy their curse, but too valuable to leave behind.
Breaking down the Silvered tiers
You've got a few different things to look for. Not all "silver" is created equal in the eyes of the commendation hunters.
The Old Silver Mug is the bottom of the barrel. It’s tiny. It’s easy to miss in the grass. I’ve probably walked over a hundred of them. Then you have the Silvered Cup, which is slightly taller and shinier. The Silvered Urn is where it starts to get interesting—it’s actually quite beautiful if you look at the engravings, though you’ll likely just toss it onto the harpoon without a second thought. Finally, the Silvered Casket. This is the big one. It takes up a full treasure spot and usually yields the most gold of the bunch.
The frustration is real.
If you're trying to max out your Gold Hoarder commendations, you need 600 of these. Yes. Six. Hundred. That's not a typo. You have to turn in 600 pieces of silvered treasure to fully clear the "Hoarder of Silvered Spoils" commendation.
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The Best Ways to Farm Silvered Items (Without Losing Your Mind)
If you're serious about this, stop doing Athena voyages. Stop doing World Events. Those are for gold and glory. If you want silver, you have to play like a scavenger.
- Skeleton Ships: These guys are treasure troves for random artifacts. Sink every Sloop or Galleon you see. They don't care about "tiering" loot the way the quest system does. They just grab whatever is in the sea.
- The Shores of Plenty: This region seems to have a higher density of "small" islands. Small islands are faster to clear. You land, you kill the one skeleton captain, you take his map, you dig up the silver, you leave.
- Floating Barrels: Never sail past them. Seriously. Use your harpoon. Often, a "Silvered Cup" will be bobbing right there amongst the planks and bananas.
Honestly, the most efficient way is "Message in a Bottle" quests. They are totally random. They don't care if you're level 75 in every faction. They will send you to find a Silvered Casket on a tiny spit of sand in the middle of nowhere.
Is it actually worth the effort?
That depends. Do you like titles? Do you like seeing "100%" on your reputation screen? If so, then yes. But don't expect to get rich. This is a completionist's game.
The real "spoils" of Keg Leg aren't the coins. It's the prestige of having finished one of the most tedious grinds in the game. When you see a pirate with the highest-tier Gold Hoarder trinkets on their ship, you know they didn't just kill a few bosses. They spent hours scouring beaches for mugs. That’s commitment. Or insanity. Maybe both.
How to optimize your hunt:
- Don't skip the small islands. Big islands like Old Faithful or Thieves' Haven take too long to traverse. Stick to places like Sandy Shallows or Picaroon Palms.
- Check the shorelines. Items wash up on the beach naturally. You can find "spoils" without ever picking up a shovel.
- Use the Sovereigns. If you're a Captain, selling at the Sovereign hut saves you the walk to the Gold Hoarder tent. When you're selling 600 items, every second counts.
Actionable Next Steps for the Silver Seeker
If you want to start knocking out the Keg Leg’s Silver Spoils requirement today, change your perspective.
First, start every session by checking the outposts' barrel stashes and looking for "Small Artifact" maps in the quest board. These are often ignored by players looking for high-value chests, meaning there's a surplus of silver waiting for you.
Second, commit to the "Shipwreck Loop." Instead of a straight line to your destination, veer toward every set of birds you see. If you find a shipwreck, clear the whole thing. The items found in the lower decks are often the silvered variety because the "good" stuff (like the Captain’s Chest) usually spawns in the captain's cabin.
Lastly, keep a mental tally but don't obsess. If you make the game only about the silver, you'll burn out. Treat it as a "side hustle" while you do your regular pirating. Every time you find an Old Silver Mug, consider it a tiny victory on the long road to 600. The commendation will pop eventually, and when it does, you can finally stop looking at the ground and start looking at the horizon again.