Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have two dental crowns, two gold molars made of mixed metal, according to my dentist. He said metal refiners buy such things and break them down into their separate metals. Do you do that? Thanks from Brett in Milwaukee, WI.

Hi Brett,

Yes! As a precious metal refiner we have the capabilities to recover gold from the dental items you have described. Since dental gold is not hallmarked like gold jewelry (14k, 18k etc), you need to make sure that your buyer has the ability to find the exact purity of your items, as dental gold can really vary in purity. We have seen dental gold to be as high as 85% gold, while other times it can be as low as 15%. However, most of the dental gold we see is about 12k, which is 66.66% gold. We run tests with an XRF analytical machine to determine how much gold is available to refine. An at home gold kit may not suffice to give accurate results for the purity of dental gold.

Our next-step advice for you is to make sure that your items are as separated from other non-precious metals and materials and you can get them, then weight on a postal scale. You can refer to our payout schedule for gold, but note that these percentages are based on the actual gold content (not the total weight of your items).

You can refer to our Dental Gold category for more posts about refining dental gold. Thanks for your question Brett!

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for visiting our blog. Because of other exciting company happenings that are keeping us busy during the end of 2012 we are going to take a break from blogging and will be back in 2013.

We would be happy to give you refining estimates on your items if you fill out our Request Form here: http://www.archenterprises.com/contact-us.asp.

Or you can try out our silver & gold calculator tool here: http://www.archenterprises.com/silver-gold-calculator.html.

We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and please keep us in mind for all your precious metal refining needs.

Best Wishes,

All of Us at Arch Enterprises

It has been a little while! But we are still here and want to let you know that you can still keep sending us your questions! If we don’t respond right away on our blog please contact us more directly on our website contact form here: http://www.archenterprises.com/contact-us.asp.

Question: I have silver contacts on copper. Can I leave the contacts on the copper or do you need them off? — From Jason in Boston, Massachusetts

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your question. Please remove the copper from the silver and only send the silver contact material into refine. We pay on the weight of the silver, so by doing this you can also have an accurate idea about how much silver you have and also save on shipping.

For heavy items we recommend going with USPS flat rate boxes. The largest box you can mail with flat rate boxes is 23 5/8” x 11 3/4” x 3”.

We would recommend taking the copper to a scrap metal recycling facility in your area.

*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.

We see this questions quite often, “What is the Difference Between Refiners and Gold Buyers?”

The main difference between precious metal refiners like Arch Enterprises verses the gold buyers that have popped up everywhere is that as refiners, we have all the equipment and means to actually recover the precious metal and put it back in its most pure form.

While gold buyers will go on to sell gold, silver and platinum pieces to refiners, we go through the process of melting and extracting the precious metals and then work with organizations to put the precious metals back into the manufacturing markets that use them.

We do understand that sometimes it is more convenient to sell smaller items to the local gold buyer or jewelry store, but our advice is that it is worth it to get several estimates, especially if you have over an ounce of gold or platinum or a several ounces of silver.

There are some gold buyers out there that will give you a decent price, just remember that there are also some that are not as reputable. Our advice would be to check out the company you decide to work with. Check their rating with the Better Business Bureau and do a simple Google search to see who you are working with. Also remember, that unlike jewelers and/or pawn shops precious metal refiners do not buy gems or stones.

Finally, as a precious metal refiner, we do not have the expertise to look at antiques or collectables and return a value. We look at the purity of your precious metal items, the weight and the daily price of precious metals and that is how we arrive at our estimates and returns.

If you have questions, please contact us or request your own estimate.

Question/Answer: I have a few hundred pounds of used industrial x-ray film, 15 or so pounds of silver flake and a couple of hundred gallons of used fixer. What can I estimate its worth and do you know who would buy it? From Levi in Tucson, Arizona

Hi Levi,

A silver refinery such as Arch Enterprises would probably be the best place to see your items. With more industrial/manufacturing items such as you have, it is not as likely that you can sell to a pawn shop or retailer. If you go to a scrap yard, they may buy your items, but they really have no way to recover the silver from them, so most likely they would just sell to a silver refinery and give you only a fraction of the silver value.

Image: Harvested Silver Flake

Working directly with the refinery ensures that you are getting the most for your silver items. We can also help arrange the freight if you need. Unless you have the appropriate paper work on the grade of your silver flake and fixer, we would need to run tests to see how much silver is available to recover from it. For refining X-rays, you may want to wait until you have at least 300-400 pounds of x-ray film (out of the paper jackets) before you ship. This way the shipping will be worth the cost. Without knowing how much silver we could recover from your material, it would be difficult to provide a dollar amount estimate at this time. But it sounds like what you have is ideal for a precious metal refinery.

*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.