I have about 12 ounces of jewelry scrap from about 60 years ago. I think it might be gold but have not gotten a definitive answer yet. Can I send you some samples? I also have 5 to 10 pounds of old sterling silver and would like to know its value (buckles, money clips, pins, etc.) Can you also let me know if you would be interested in buying it? Thanks. From Mary in Rochester, New York

Hi Mary,

Thank you for your question. Sounds like you are doing some cleaning which could result in some extra cash for you, which is always a plus.

Since you are unsure about the purity of your gold items, we would test your pieces, refine gold that is9 karat purity (37.44% gold) or more and then either send back what is not able to refine or we could recycle it for you. If you have specific instructions for us, please indicate those on our packaging slip.

5-10 pounds of sterling silver is a large range. If your pieces are pure sterling silver, 92.5% silver, at a $35 silver price, 5 pounds of sterling silver could be worth over $2,000 silver value.  Arch would be able to pay 75% of the silver value back to you on your pieces. However, if not all of your pieces are sterling, we would recommend sorting the items you know are sterling and then check to see if your other pieces are sterling or not.

It may be better to send all of your pieces together, but would help if you kept the gold separated from the silver in different bags.

Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any more questions. Or you can upload an image to show up on our Contact Form.

*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.