I have about 710 silver dimes that were left to my family.  I’m not sure of the exact weight, but they are all 1964 and previous years, so I think the weight of silver in them is around 51.333 troy ounces.  Where can I sell silver dimes for more than the face value? Thanks! From Anthony in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for your inquiry. US dimes minted 1964 and earlier are often called “junk silver” as they have silver value but little to no numismatic or collection value. Because they have a high percentage of silver content, they can be sold and refined for much more than their face value of 10 cents. Below are examples of the type of dimes you described.

As you can see the Mercury Dime and Roosevelt Dime have different designs. However, both contain the same amount of silver approximately 0.0723 troy ounces. Based on a silver price of $18 per troy ounce, each dime would be worth about $1.30.

Keep in mind however, that some of these coins may have been in circulation for almost 100 years. Many undoubtedly have experienced significant wear and often have a slight drop in silver weight, around 1-2 percent. The 0.0723 troy ounces of silver is from a coin in mint condition. That is why recommend actually weighing your coins before sending them in as we calculate the melt value based on the actual weight. We typically pay about 75% of the silver value to melt them and put them in a form that can be returned to the industry. Hope this information helps!

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.

I want to sell my sterling silver flatware set.  It is Gorham Greenbrier brand and includes 12 5-piece settings with a butter knife and 8 serving pieces: 2 medium size spoons, 2 medium size forks, a gravy ladle, a sugar spoon and 2 larger size serving spoon/forks. What is all this worth and where can I sell it?  From Karalyn in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Hi Karalyn,

Depending on the condition of your set, you may have a number of options of where to sell your sterling silver flatware. The first thing we would recommend is to find out as much as you can about your silver tableware. Since you already know the make and brand is Gorham Greenbrier, look at the hallmarks and make sure you know exactly what they mean. Other things to look for are the age and country of origin.

Based on this information, you may be able to assess whether the set has much market value or if it is better to sell for its melt value. If you feel the market value is high, a local consignment shop may take them for you, but consider that they will probably take about 40% to 50% of the sale price as their fee to put your set in their store. They will also take into consideration quality, brand, collectability and the completeness of your set whereas precious metal refiners will only look at the weight and purity of the silver content available to extract.

So, if you don’t think your set has much market value or don’t want to deal with the hassle of taking your items to a store or selling on eBay or Craigslist, you can send them in based on the melt value. As a silver refiner, we will pay you on the actual value of silver in your set. You can use our silver value calculator to find the approximate value of your items at market price.

Take into consideration that knife blades are often made from stainless steel. Also, some knife handles and serving piece handles are weighted, meaning that they are filled with another material making them heavier and so they fit better in a user’s hand. This will affect the sterling silver melt value. We would recommend taking the knives out from the group and weighing everything else separately.

Also, silver prices do change regularly so we pay 75% of the fine silver content based on the market price of the day received and can typically process your sterling scrap silver and return payment within 1-2 business days. For delivery we recommend shipping with the US Postal Service’s flat rate shipping boxes. Please request the “Delivery Signature Required” option. Hope this was helpful to you!

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.

I have around 10 pounds of pure silver powder I would like to sell. How much do you think its worth? From Robin in Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Hi Robin,

To determine the value of your silver powder, you would first need to know how pure the silver is.  For instance, fine silver is 99.9% silver, but if your silver powder contains other ingredients, then it would not be as valuable, assuming the other ingredients are not some other highly precious metal like gold or platinum.

If your silver powder is marked 999 silver anywhere on the container or label, then it is most likely 99.9 % fine silver and you can estimate its value by converting your 10 pounds into 145.833 troy ounces.  (Please note that Silver commodity prices are measured in Troy ounces and not the standard avoirdupois ounces that most Americans think of when they see the word ounce.  Many people mistakenly estimate silver value by multiplying standard avoirdupois ounces by the price per ounce and get a higher value.)

Once you have your weight converted into troy ounces, you can multiply this number by the silver exchange rate published on sites like CNN Money http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/index.html. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume that the price was $18 per troy ounce.  Given this, the market value of your silver would be about $2,625.

Of course, this price fluctuates and as a refiner, we still would need to process the silver and find a buyer for this particular material so we typically pay 75% of the silver value by weight but could pay up 90% depending on the fine silver content of your powder. If it has no markings, we will have to run additional analytical tests to determine how much silver material is available to extract. Not only will this require more time to refine, but the silver may a much lower purity than the 99.9% used in our example.

We would advise that you send us a small sample of the silver powder so that we can measure its purity and provide a more accurate estimate.