I’m just a humble jewelry designer from NY who is trying to get used to all this stuff! From Natalie in New York, Arkansas

Hi Natalie,

Don’t worry if you don’t pickup on everything right away. It takes sometime to get to know the precious metal industry. Here are some helpful tips that I’ve put together for you and other jewelry designers out there that may have some scrap precious metal to refine.

It’s great that you are learning and researching about this now so you have all the tools at hand. We work with jewelry designers, jewelry sellers and gold party representatives from all over, let us know if you have any questions about precious metal!

Keep in mind that precious metals include: gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Pay attention to where you scrap is going.

From small gold chain links to shavings of silver, try to account for it all. For larger pieces of gold, silver or platinum that you cannot use in creating or fixing jewelry its best to keep them as separated as you can. We recommend working on smooth, dark surfaces so you can see scrap easier.

Don’t throw anything out, it could be precious!

Even your facility that you resize, shape and design jewelry in can contain valuable precious metal scrap. Areas where precious metal can be accumulating include sink traps, floor mats, carpets, rags, floor sweeps and vacuum bags. Think about this when you’re cleaning your facilities. If you regularly clip, size and shape precious metal chances are small pieces of it have gotten away from you. As precious metal refiners we can extract even the smallest amounts of precious metal from these items.

Keep your stones and gems.

As precious metal refiners, we only return payments for metal materials, not stones and gems. To reclaim the value on these items, make sure you remove them before sending them to any metal refinery.

I have a Reed and Barton bowl marked 900. It weighs 30 troy ounces. What do you think this is worth? – From Ryan in Reno, Nevada

Hi Ryan,

We could offer to pay for 75% of your bowl’s fine silver content by weight. However, because your bowl is Reed and Barton which is a well known silver brand name, this item may have retail value that is beyond its precious metal value. By doing a quick Google search you can easily see how much Reed and Barton bowls are selling for today at places like Amazon.com and Macys.

If you bowl is in good condition, you may be better off polishing your bowl and selling it online. Even the silver plated Reed and Barton bowls have a high resell value. Make note of the year your bowl was made. However, sending in your bowl for the silver content is a great option if your bowl is dented or broken, which significantly decreases the resale value.

Watch a refiner demonstrate how to find the value of other silver items on this YouTube How to Value Sterling Silver Video.

I have 3 Morgan coins – 2 coins dated 1921 and 1 dated 1880. And 1 Peace coin dated 1924. These coins were my grandmothers and are in pretty good condition. Could you tell me how to get a good price for my coins? From Katara in Severna Park, Maryland

Hi Katara,

Your coins do contain silver, but four coins are not worth very much based solely on their silver content. Since you mentioned that the coins are in good condition, a coin collector may be a better option for you.

As a precious metal refiner we only buy coins for their scrap silver value, not for the collection value or “numismatic” value. I recommend bringing them in person to a coin collector. I would also advise getting several appraisals from professionals.

Some coin collectors will buy coins for their silver content and then sell them in bulk to refiners. This price will probably be significantly lower than if your coins are collectables. Make sure you know if they are buying your coins for the silver or for the collection value.

I have a 12 person set of sterling silver from the late 1800’s. There are roses around the edges with M etched into the pieces and ornate roses on the handle. I have about 10 lbs. of silverware. – From John in Lapeer, Minnesota

Hi John,

Thanks for you inquiry. Though you did not indicate any silver markings, most sterling silver is 925 silver, that is 92.5% silver. In that case, your silverware is ideal for refining because the scrap silver content is valuable. Arch Enterprises can pay you for 75% of your material’s fine silver content by weight.

An important thing to keep in mind for anyone who is selling or refining silverware is that the knives most likely have stainless blades, not silver blades. This would reduce the silver weight of tableware sets. So, it might be a good idea to weigh your materials sans knives to get a more accurate silver value.

Here is an example of how a refiner takes apart sterling silver items including tableware knives on our Arch Enterprises YouTube Channel.

In the last six months we have received some great questions! In order for our customers to receive the best information and most accurate quotes we encourage everyone to give very detailed descriptions of the materials you would like us to buy and refine. Even things that you may not think are significant can indicate what kind of material you have and what the grade is. Here are the main elements we take into account when people ask questions about their materials.

1. Type of Metal – of course the type of precious metal your items contain is the main indicator of how much they are worth refined.
2. Markings/Hallmarks – these are especially important on sterling silver sets and flatware. Always try and indicate if these items are marked with the word ‘sterling’, 925 or 800. 925 silver is 92.5% silver, where as 800 silver is only 80.0% silver.
3. Weight – there is a very big difference between the weight of items before they are refined and then the weight of the actual precious metal contained in items. We try and estimate only on the value of the precious metal content. So account for the fact that 40 lbs. of material is not the same as 40 lbs. of pure silver.
4. Quantity – the amount of precious metal you have to refine is important because often times we can offer you a higher return on larger amounts of material. This is because it is more energy efficient to process large amounts of material at once than several smaller quantities at different times.

On our Submit Your Question Form, there is an image upload capability where you can send us a photo of the items you wish to refine.

As always, let us know if you have any questions.