Category Archives: Gold

If you’ve seen this morning’s financial news you probably saw that the market price of gold touched $1,300.00 U.S. dollars per troy ounce today and many of you have been asking me if it a good time to sell gold.  The answer to this question is that it’s a better time to sell than when it was at $1,200 per ounce, but realistically, one can only speculate as to where the price of gold or any commodity will go in the future.

As a general rule, investors turn to gold and other precious metals when there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the values of traditional currencies and investments.  There is currently a great deal of speculation that the U.S. Government is trying to keep the value of the dollar low in order to make U.S. exports more competitive in a global economy in the hopes that it will help its economy and create more jobs.

The general state of the economy, low interest rates and overall anxiety related to government debt lead people to consider safer, more tangible investments like gold and silver.  As a result, the spot price of gold has risen and some economists don’t see it stopping here.  David Rosenberg for one has been quoted as saying “Forget Gold $1300, It’s Going To $3000.” See Business Insider.

Other economists subscribe to the theory that gold tends to be an investment that people turn to in uncertain times and warn that if the world economy stabilizes, gold will pull back.

So back the question of whether it is a good time to sell gold?

Since we refine gold and try to not get involved in speculating on gold prices, I would say that compared to historical prices, it is a good time to sell, but if gold prices to continue to inch upward you may want to wait.  In other words…I don’t know.

I have just obtained hundreds of pieces of 12-14k gold filled jewelry. Do you think its value could be more than the postage to send it to you? Thanks. – From Jamie in Springfield, Missouri

I have some scraps of 14k/20 gold filled pins which I usually make earrings with. I thought about tossing them out, but I did some research and read that it might have value to it. Do you know if my 14k/20 gold filled pins have any value to them and will it be worth it to take these to a refinery? – From Elle in Lincoln, Wisconsin

I have two pairs of eye glasses that except for the lens are gold-filled. They are old glasses so the frame isn’t light. I am sorry I do not have a picture but am glad to post one if you do buy gold filled. Thank you for your time. – From Randy in Greensboro, North Carolina

Hi Jamie, Elle and Randy,

The term “gold filled” refers to a technique used to make items look like they are made from solid gold, but that cost substantially less.In some ways, it is similar to gold plating in that a thin layer of gold is applied to a base metal in order to achieve the gold appearance.Unlike plating, however, gold filled items typically utilize a hollow 10k or 14k gold tube that is filled with another less valuable metal such as brass and are marked with a “GF.”A similar process known as “rolled gold” or “rolled gold plate” employs the same methodology, but utilizes a sheet of thin gold laminated to the base material.

While not solid gold, gold filled and rolled gold items typically contain much more gold than the microscopic layer of gold placed on items with today’s electroplating processes.Gold filled also differs from electroplated gold and gold plate because in the US it is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and has to contain a certain amount of gold to be marked GF. Given this, gold filled jewelry can return a value, but you typically need a fairly significant amount of material to refine to make it worthwhile.

The math in determining the value of gold filled jewelry is a little more complex than trying to determine the value of a solid gold item.Gold filled pins marked 14k/20 should indicate that the pins use 14K gold, but that only 1/20 of the items weight can be attributed to the 14K gold content.To determine the items approximate value, you should take the item’s weight and divide it by 20.You can then plug this weight into our gold value calculator to get a feel for the amount of gold in the item.Obviously, determining the weight can prove to be very challenging if the item includes other elements aside from the gold filled components.

In addition, since there is very little gold content in these items, the time and energy to refine the precious metal from the other metals is greater than with solid gold.Given this, gold filled jewelry is typically not worth very much unless you have very large quantities of it.

Hi, I have a 9” curb link gold bracelet that I no longer wear and am interested in selling. It weighs 93.6 grams and is 14 k gold. What is this worth? From Ryan in Clearwater, Florida

Hi Ryan,

Just knowing the value of how much your items are worth will make you more a more educated gold seller. We recommend visiting our gold value calculator which will give you the approximate market price of what your scrap gold items. You can go from there and determine who is going to give you the best deal for your gold.

The calculator converts your measurements into troy ounces. Ryan, your 93.6 grams is 3.009 troy ounces, of the 14k gold which is about 58.24% gold. Based on these numbers and the price of gold today at $1,226.00*/troy ounce, the market value would be approximately $2,210.  Keep in mind that the market value is what the end consumer expects to pay.  We need to refine the gold and convert it into a form that we can sell at this price. Based on this, Arch Enterprises typically offers 80%-85% of the fine gold value in weight for small, one-time transactions.

* Since the price of gold changes daily this price was taken June 11, 2010 and may not reflect the day of this blog post.

I have one gold bracelet and one gold necklace stamped “14 KT.” Together these items weigh about 2.6 ounces. Is now a good time to sell gold? From Lisa in Stockton, California

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your question. Gold has hit record highs this year. Even though the price of gold fluctuates every day, it has stayed above 1,000 USD per troy ounce since last fall and currently resides at more than $1,200 USD per troy ounce, which is near its highest point in the last decade. As far as answering the question about when the best time to sell gold is, this is probably better handled by an economist than a precious metal refiner.

The price of gold is set on the open market and is affected by conditions in the global economy. Like the U.S. economy, many country’s economies are experiencing challenging times and investors fear that companies will fold, countries will default on loans, and currencies will devalue. These factors and others drive the price of gold up as investors see it as a safer investment.

So, while I won’t speculate that gold is currently at the highest that it will reach, there is certainly no argument that gold is at a historical high. See chart from http://www.research.gold.org below. So you may find it to be a good time to sell.

You can check the current prices of commodities including gold and silver here: http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/index.html.

Jonathon from Grand Rapids, Michigan asks “I have about 3 pounds of mostly gold dental scrap including a number of gold teeth and bridges that my late grandfather accumulated over the years in his dental practice. How do I figure out what this is worth and where can I sell these items?”

Question from Mickey in Tulsa, Oklahoma: I have a three gold teeth and a dental bridge originally formed in 1974 I want to sell.   Can you help me determine what this is worth?

Hi Jonathon and Mickey,

Determining the value of gold teeth, crowns, bridges and other dental scrap can be very challenging because dental gold is often alloyed with many different metals and over the years, we have received dental gold that ranged from 10 to 22 karats.  Since the grade of the gold significantly affects the value of the items, we often have to run the items through testing equipment to determine the precious metal content percentages.

It can also be difficult to determine the exact weight of items like crowns as they often have parts of the tooth and other dental material still attached to them. Due to these factors and the more challenging refining process associated with dental gold, we usually pay between 80-85% on the fine gold content depending on the amount one sends in to be refined.

We also tell people to consider the silver-colored alloys that are used in dental scrap such as crowns and bridges. Don’t discard this material before knowing if it is precious metal or not. Despite the color, this material may contain gold, platinum or palladium. If these items have any value, our analytical equipment will be able to determine their value.

In regards to your questions “Where can I sell gold teeth?” there are a number of dental product distributors that buy scrap dental gold and send it to companies like us for refining.  If you want to deal directly with a refiner, Arch Enterprises is a member of the National Association of Dental Labs, endorsed by the Kansas Dental Association, and works with consumers, dental offices and laboratories across the country to refine the precious metals from dental items.