Category Archives: All

Question: Is all silver plated flatware brass underneath? From Estella in Grand Rapids, MI

Hi Estella,

Thanks for your question. Not all silver plated flatware is brass underneath. Silver plated flatware will usually be copper based (like brass) or nickel based. Usually flatware is not a pure copper base, as copper is too weak. Brass is actually an alloy of copper and zinc. Most often scrap metal yards will purchase brass plated flatware for the copper.

Flatware made with nickel is worth more than flatware made with copper. Pure nickel under silver plate is an older plating method and rarely used anymore. If you have pure nickel plated flatware, we would guess that you have older flatware that may be worth more as antiques than for the scrap nickel value. Nickel is magnetic, whereas sterling silver, copper brass and cupronickel (below) are not.

There is also cupronickel which is an alloy of copper and nickel. There are different grades or alloys of cupronickel. If you have a high percentage of nickel compared to the copper, try to sell to a scrap dealer for the nickel value. Some may just give you the brass price.

Scrap Metal Junkie is a website that we found that comments about scrap metal like we do about precious metals. If you think that your items could be sterling silver (not plated), then a precious metal refiner could be the right fit for you.

*Images displayed are only a representation of the items described in this blog post and may not be true images of the items in question.

While we are happy to give estimates on precious metal items, we are NOT antiques dealers, researchers, or retail sellers. As a precious metal refiner, we only consider the weight and amount of precious metal available to extract during the smelting and refining process.

I have .52576 oz Yellow Dental Gold And .73968 oz of Hi Noble Dental Gold. How much can I receive for this material? –From a dentist in Chicago, Illinois.

Thank you for your question. Because dental gold is usually not marked, it can be difficult to determine the gold purity without the right testing equipment. That is why selling this type of gold at a pawn shop or gold party may not yield the highest or more accurate returns.
Most dental gold is 16k gold which is 66.66% gold. However, we find dental gold to be as high as 85% gold while other dental gold items have been as low as 15%. We run tests with an XRF analytical machine to determine how much gold is available to refine.

With the amount of dental gold you have, we would estimate that we could offer about 85% of the gold value back to you. As the price of gold changes daily, we use the price of the day that your shipment arrives at our facility.

Find all of our blog postings about selling dental gold on our dental refining category.

*Images displayed are only a representation of the items described in this blog post and may not be true images of the items in question.

—-

EVERYONE HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We will see you in 2012 and be here answering more questions about your precious metal items. Don’t hesitate to ask us about your gold and silver and request an estimate!

I have 40,000 oz of silver in sludge of 2 mm lbs. Where can I get it refined? From Robert in Indianapolis, Indiana

Hi Robert,

The silver sludge material you describe would be best to sell to a precious metal refiner, as it is not feasible to walk into a pawn shop or other retail establishment to sell.

We recommend having at least 5 pounds of silver sludge material to justify the freight and refining costs. Of course you are way over this minimum recommendation at 40,000 ounces which is about 2,499.99 pounds.

The value of the silver sludge will depend on how much silver is available to refine. Refining photographic sludge often contains about 60 to 80 percent silver, but we can determine a more accurate percentage when we get it in our lab and run analytical tests.

If you are unsure about the amount of silver in your silver sludge, you might send a sample to us, before shipping the 2,000+ pound shipment of material. As you have a large amount of material, we can help arrange freight to our facility.

Thanks for your question Robert!

*Images displayed are only a representation of the items described in this blog post and may not be true images of the items in question.

Question: I have a 69 piece sterling silver flatware set that weights a total of 104.55 ounces mad by International Company. Included in the set are 10 knives, one pie server, and one cheeses server, which all have stainless steel blades. All of the rest of the metal is sterling silver. – Thanks from Bonnie in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hi Bonnie,

“Where to sell sterling silver flatware?” is becoming a more common question as it becoming outdated, hard to manage and more valuable refined and melted than sitting in a closet.

Thank you for mentioning the pieces that you have in your sterling silverware set that are made with other metals. Did you include these in your total weight of 104.55 ounces you gave? We would recommend weighing these items separately then you will have one weight that you know is all sterling made up of forks and spoons, and a second weight that is not all sterling made up of your knives and other sterling pieces.

For .925 sterling silver flatware we pay 75% of the fine silver content by weight. If you use our silver value calculator, an estimate of what you would receive back is 75% of that total that it gives. The calculator on our website does not take out any percentages. It provides market indications of what your gold and silver is worth if it were in an investment grade form.

Below is a screen shot where we plugged in the daily silver price (currently at $33.66/troy ounce), 104.55 average ounces, and .925 grade silver.

*This price may not reflect the current price of silver when this blog entry was posted.The output from the calculator is not a confirmation of the purchase price from Arch Enterprises.

While we are happy to give estimates on precious metal items, we are NOT antiques dealers, researchers, or retail sellers. As a precious metal refiner, we only consider the weight and amount of precious metal available to extract during the smelting and refining process.

Question: I have 59.50 grams of 22 kt yellow gold of handmade jewelry from India. Includes 1 necklace, 2 bracelets and 2 earrings. — From Aasha in Dallas, Texas

Hi Aasha,

Thank you for your submission. Gold jewelry from India is usually of very high quality and made with a very high gold content, giving the gold a yellow color. 22k gold is 91.52% gold alloyed with 8.48% of some other type of metal.

Are there any hallmarks or markings that prove the purity of your items? Since you indicated that your items are handmade, we are guessing that there are not hallmarks. We run unmarked pieces through our XRF analytical testing machine that uses x-ray technology to tell what these pieces are composed of. We find that with handmade jewelry from India the standard percent of 22k is not always exact. Sometimes there is a little more and sometimes a little less to recover.

As precious metal refiners, we will pay on the value of your items according to how much gold there is to refine (weight), how high of gold content your items are (purity), and the current price of gold.

Also keep in mind that gold is measured in troy ounces. 59.50 grams = 1.913 troy ounces. Based on our payout schedule, we would be able to offer 85% of the gold value back to you.

*Images displayed are only a representation of the items described in this blog post and may not be true images of the items in question.

While we are happy to give estimates on precious metal items, we are NOT antiques dealers, researchers, or retail sellers. As a precious metal refiner, we only consider the weight and amount of precious metal available to extract during the smelting and refining process.