Category Archives: Forum Questions

I have 7.7 silver from developing negatives in printing, how much would this bring if I took it to refine? – Trisha in Pittsburg, KS

Hi Trisha,

If am not sure if your silver is from a silver recovery unit and is in pounds or ounces. Let’s assume it is silver flake from an electrolytic silver recovery unit, in this case it may be very rich in silver content by weight. We can refine it and return 75%-90% of the silver value back to you via check depending on the actual quantity and quality. If you would like us to test a sample please let us know.

We are clearing out our office and realized we still have about 160 pounds worth of old negatives from our monthly publication. Wonder if these are worth recycling? – Dixie in Berkeley, CA

Hi Dixie,

The amount of negatives you have is not enough for us to pay you for them. This is because the cost for us to extract the silver is more than what the precious metal would be worth. We will gladly recycle them but you would have to pay the shipping charges to get them to our facility.

I have quite a few silver coins: 33 quarters and 39 half dollars. I’ve been watching silver prices and thought now would be a good time to sell these. How much are these silver coins worth refined? – Terri in Carrollton, Texas

Hi Terri,

You’re right, silver prices are at an all time high and now would be an ideal time to add a little extra money to your pocketbook when you’re ready to sell. The first thing to look at is if your coins are “junk silver” coins where the silver content is worth more than their numismatic value. The most common quarters and half dollars we see at Arch are as follows:

• (1932-1964) Washington Quarter
• (1916-1947) Liberty Half Dollar
• (1948-1963) Franklin Half Dollar
• (1964) Kennedy Half Dollar
• (1965-1970) Kennedy Half Dollar
• (1920-1967) Canadian Quarter
• (1920-1967) Canadian Half Dollar

If your silver coins are in-fact junk silver and you have 33 quarters and 39 half dollars we would estimate their melt value to be $258 per pound based on a silver price of $17.75/troy ounce. We will retain a small 10% fee of the $258.

I have a 51 piece 24K gold plated flatware set that is supposed to contain 63 pieces (I’m missing 12 salad forks.) If it were a full set, it’s only going for about $50 on E-Bay. It is not marked 24K, but the certificate included with the set states they guarantee it to be so. So let’s just assume this to be true. Would I be better off to sell this online for $40 or $50 or sell it as gold scrap? Thanks. – Mark in Las Vegas, Nevada

Gold Plated Flatware

Hi Mark:

Unfortunately, plated gold flatware typically only contains a microscopic layer of gold. In most cases, the flatware is plated so thinly that it costs more in energy and time to remove the gold than the gold is worth. Therefore, most precious metal refiners cannot offer payment for gold plated items.

However, the value of your flatware depends greatly on the metal underneath the gold plating. In some cases, manufacturers plated the gold over sterling silver. If your set is gold on sterling silver, the set should be worth more than $50.00 for the silver value (market price of silver and weight depending). If they are gold plate on stainless or copper or another base metal you are best to sell them on ebay.

To give you a feel for the melt value, we buy sterling silver by weight and pay around $175 a pound at this time.* If you want to determine what metal is under the gold plating, you can send us one piece to test in our XRF analytical lab to determine if it is silver underneath the gold or you might be able to dig up some information by calling/writing the manufacturer.

You can see how the XRF machine works Arch Enterprises Video Site.

* Price reflects the price of silver when this blog article was published and my not reflect the current price of silver, which changes daily.

I have some old silver coins that I would like to sell.  What is the best way to go about this? — Amber in Pensacola, FL

If you are looking into selling silver or gold coins, the first step to consider is whether or not your coins have numismatic value. Coins with numismatic value are those that are worth more than their precious metal content. The value of rare coins is determined by four criteria:

1. Rarity
2. Quality
3. Grade
4. Popularity

For these types of coins, we recommend working with a rare coin dealer as you don’t want to sell them for their melt value.

Other silver coins are commonly referred to as “junk silver.” These coins have no value beyond their silver content. In the United States, most silver coins minted before 1964 have a fair amount of silver content and have value based on this precious metal content.

Here are a few examples of the most common junk silver coins we at Arch see.

• (1942-1945) Silver War Nickel
• (1916-1945) Mercury Dime
• (1946-1964) Roosevelt Dime
• (1932-1964) Washington Quarter
• (1916-1947) Liberty Half Dollar
• (1948-1963) Franklin Half Dollar
• (1964) Kennedy Half Dollar
• (1965-1970) Kennedy Half Dollar
• (1878-1921) Morgan Dollar
• (1921-1935) Peace Dollar
• (1971-1976) Eisenhower Dollar
• 1920-1967 Canadian Dime
• 1920-1967 Canadian Quarter
• 1920-1967 Canadian Half Dollar
• 1935-1967 Canadian Dollar