This is a stark difference to the dental scrap field which has been around for decades, since dentistry began, gold has been used as an excellent tooth repair medium for centuries.  It contains properties that make it superior for many applications.  It’s used in the making of a gold tooth, fillings, inlays, dentures, bridgework, dental crowns and more.  As a scrap gold buyer the majority of gold you’ll see in a dentist’s office will be in the form of a gold crown or dental bridges.  These items have been removed from patient’s for many years and/or replaced, some dentists will give them back to the patient and inform them of their value but many will not and keep a stockpile, some will cash their pile in yearly, others will hold on to it for a decade, some for the duration of their career as a sort of retire nest egg.

Overnight, however, the gold merchant industry seems to have gone from these very limited roots to becoming a legitimate business that has made a large number of people very, very rich. What caused this to occur so quickly? Experts suggest that there are a lot of reasons relating to the economy that have contributed to it, but these reasons are only a small part of the story – a lot of it has to do with the business savvy and competence of the gold merchants themselves, and their ability to eye out areas of potential profit and seize these areas quicker than any of their competitors are able to do so.

Take, for example, the booming trade in dental scrap. It is very difficult to see the connection between the dentist’s office and the gold merchant’s shop, and at first glance there may seem to be no obvious commonalities between them, but in fact the gold industry is quite heavily dependent upon the scrap gold that is generated as a result of the dentist’s trade. Dentists deal with a lot of patients who use fillings, and a lot of these fillings – all, in fact – are made of precious metals, with gold being a very popular one. These fillings need to be replaced as time goes on, and this means that the average dentist’s office will have a very large amount of scrap gold flowing through it. Of course, this gold is still gold, and so it retains its value. It is not as usable in the raw form that the dentist receives, perhaps, but when processed to remove impurities and irregularities, and then melted down and re-created as gold bars, it is basically no different from gold in any other form.

As a result, then, it makes a lot of sense that gold merchants make a huge deal out of plying dentists for the chance to purchase the large amount of scrap gold that flows through their offices, little do these merchants know that dentists are keenly aware of the value of their scrap.  The dental industry is huge – there are a lot of dentists’ offices in modern western countries, and each office deals with a lot of customers that use dental fillings – and thus they receive a lot of gold. This represents one of the easiest and cheapest places from where gold merchants can purchase their gold, and so there is bitter competition between gold dealers to secure the rights to purchase scrap gold from dentists’ offices. And when we say bitter competition, we mean bitter competition – the gold dealing trade is a very cutthroat one, and a lot of dealers employ tactics that are designed to squeeze their competitors out of the business as soon as they possibly can.

Generally, these dealers are large enough that they can afford a few months of not making a profit off their dental scrap, because they know that they will create a good relationship with the dentists, and will be able to compete more effectively against the other dealers as a result. The dentists, of course, simply want to get the highest prices that they can, and so they will go with dealers or refiners who offer the highest price.  In this way, the large dealers use their influence and size to persuade dentists to deal only with them, at the expense of their competitors.

If you are entering this business, then, it is best to know what you are doing. Not only will you be facing some very tough competitors, but the nature of the business itself requires a lot of expertise – after all, you are dealing with gold, a material that has a long and infamous history of trickery. Gold is a very fickle metal, and can deceive – the most lustrous gold does not necessarily mean the purest. In fact, purity of dental scrap is usually no more pure than 80% at best, and on average is about 65% pure (in other words, slightly less than 18 karat). The rest is usually alloyed (that is, mixed) with a variety of other metals, which can range from zinc to copper to tin. It takes an expert to be able to gauge the value of gold, because as mentioned above, its visual appearance can actually have very little or nothing to do with the quality of the metal.

There are several types of materials you’d be dealing with from dentists, let’s look at a few now.

1. Dental scrap can be a big money making business but without knowledge you can also lose your shirt in a hurray.  The key is to make sure you know what kind of material you’re dealing with, test everything, and don’t take anyone’s word regarding the karat of the scrap, especially the dentists!

There are many, many different gold and other precious alloys used in dentistry today. They range from 30% alloys, or 7K, to pure gold, or 24K. These alloys can range in color from white to yellow, so color is not a reliable indicator of value. We will concern ourselves with yellow alloys primarily, as this is what the majority of ‘good’ gold is.

There are many precious metals used in dental applications today, they can vary from 7k or 30% actually gold content alloys to 24k or .999 fine gold.  The colors range from deep yellow to white thus the color of the metal is not an accurate indication of the metal.  Other precious metal you’ll find when melting lots of dental alloys are palladium and silver with trace amounts of platinum.

As a general rule if you come across a deep yellow bridge or filing you will find it’s at least 66.5% gold content or 16k, this is also a good average with lighter colored scrap.

2.  Another alloy used is dental amalgam, in the past this was used in fillings and is normally around the 70% silver content, the remainder is made up of zinc, copper, tin or copper, the dentist would then mix this with mercury.  Older dental amalgam contained mercury, you’ll find that many refineries will not deal with it due to Environmentally Protection concerns.  After the dentist finished he mix the resulting amalgam would contain approximately 30% actual silver.

3. Another material contain precious metals in the dentists surgurey is dental fixer solution, this is used when developing dental x rays. Dental fixer solutions can have up to 1 oz of silver per gallon of solution, some dentists pour the solution down the drain, others will save it in large drums.  If one was ambitious enough you could offer a service to provide the dentists with the drums and pick them up on a regular basis, this will get you into the office and allow you access to his gold scrap in the future.

4.  Dental X Ray Scrap film also has amounts of silver to be worthwhile if you’re collecting other material at the same time.  After 7 years dentist clear out the films but some store them longer. This material is bought by the pound and obviously it takes a great deal of film to add up to a pound and a decent amount of silver as well.

If you are an expert in gold, however, there is a lot of room for people in the dental gold industry, which has grown so huge that now gold dealers themselves are looking for experts who will be able to help them price the scrap gold that they find at the dentists’ offices. Obviously, this is a lot less risky than going into the gold dealing business on your own, and it is equally rewarding, as these skills are in very high demand. There will always be a place for people who have a good eye for value when it comes to dental gold.

I have listed some of the more common questions below, if you an inquiry about your items, be it silver, gold or platinum feel free to use our contact form and I’ll try to give you some advice if I can.

Silverware:

Q: I have 52 piece set of 1847 Rogers “Eternally Your’s silverware that I am looking to sell, is this something you would purchase?  If yes would you be able to provide an approximate purchase price. Thank you.

A: We purchase sterling silverware, unfortunately 99.9% of the Rogers Bros flatware is silver plated, unless is it stamped/hallmarked with one of the following:  925, Ster, Sterling, Sterling Silver or Stg
… it is not something we would purchase.  Rogers Bros flatware is copper or brass with a silver plate.  Good luck with your items.

Q:   I have most of a 12 serving sterling flatware service, as well as several sterling personal grooming items (mirror, brush, nail file, comb) and some silver rings that I am interested in selling. Are these items that your firm would likely be interested in purchasing?

Understanding that you can’t possibly know the weight/value of my items, what might be a typical payment for, say, a sterling silver dinner fork or knife?

A: The weight/value of sterling silverware varies greatly from maker to maker.  I purchased 2 sets yesterday from a lady and paid her just over $1,700.00.  They were fairly heavy sets totaling over 5000 grams. Most sets are not that heavy.

Having said that a fork can be anywhere from 25 to 45 grams, larger spoons the same, smaller spoon around 20 grams.  Knives are different and are usually ‘loaded’ with resin or stainless steel with only the cover of the handle being sterling silver at approximately 15 grams.

A sterling silverware set can fetch anywhere from $200.00 to $1,200.00 depending on the number of items and weight.  Hope that helps, yes we would purchase your items if you’re looking to sell.

Q: How do we find out what you would pay for sterling 950 tea pots and a large platter?

A: We do purchase sterling and higher grade silver, price is determined by weight so it’s difficult to give you a price without knowing the items weight and if it is loaded with another material.  We are currently paying .33 cents per gram for 950 silver.  You need to be certain that it is 950 silver and not silver plated as we do not purchase silver plated items.

Silver Bullion:

Q: Do you buy silver bullion at market value?

A: We purchase all bullion and pay 93.5% of spot price.

I buy sterling silver in any form be it flatware, jewelry, old mirrors etc. The problem is that with the recent spike in the silver spot price and all the companies advertising to buy your old gold jewelry, silver jewelry, coins etc many people believe they are sitting on a nice chunk of change with their mother’s old ‘silverware’.  Most of these people believe that since it’s in a silverware chest and have assumed that it is real sterlingware worth some money.  The problem is most of these flatware sets are silver plated and worth next to nothing as far and precious metals go.

In the last year I’ve taken to screening these prospective clients more carefully thus not wasting their time or mine.  I’m very specific in having them verify that their items have one of the following markings/hallmarks before I agree to price their set:

925, Ster, Sterling, Sterling Silver or Stg.  As you are likely aware sterling silver contains 92.5% actual silver, the remaining 7.5% can be made up of copper, nickel or other metals.

If they don’t have one of the  hallmarks listed above 99.5% of the time it is not an item that has any monetary value to me and is usually silver plated and not something I would buy.   I have purchased silverware sets both small and large and have paid as much as $1,750.00 for one set and as little as $200.00 for others.  The price your set will fetch depends on it’s weight in grams, you must also take into account that knives, candlesticks, hand mirrors, large brushes and other larger items are usually ‘loaded’ which means they are partially filled with another substance other than sterling silver.  An example of this are knives, the only portion of the knife in a sterling silverware set that is actually sterling silver is the outer sleeve of the handle, the blade will be stainless steel and the inside of the handle will be stainless steel or sometime a concrete type mixture in older sets.

Below I’ve listed some photos to illustrate my points further so you can see what is really inside different items:

Loaded Sterling Silver Knives:

As mentioned above sterling silver knives are loaded with different materials, in the images below you can get a good idea on the amount of silver to filler ratio. As you can see we’ve cut off the stainless steel blade revealing a concrete type mixture inside with only the outside skin of the handle being actual sterling silver.  On this particular knife, the knife intact weighed in at 67 grams,  after we cut off the blade the weight was 39.7 grams and after we removed the inside loading mixture the actual weight of the sterling silver was 16.7 grams.  When I price knives I actually pay 25% of  the total weight of the knife to allow for variations which do occur.

Sterling Silver Knife Inside

This picture is of the exact same knife, you will see we have an intact knife on the left, in the middle we have cut off the stainless steel blade, and on the right you see that the sterling silver is the outer part of the handle , inside it is filled with a concrete type mixture.

sterling silver knives revealed

Sterling Silver Candlesticks

Candlesticks are another thing to be mindful of if you are purchasing them for scrap value, in the picture below you will see a sterling silver candlestick we’ve dismantled, beforehand it weighed in at 525 grams, after the loaded material was removed the weight of the sterling silver was 233 grams.  As you can see again we have a grey concrete type filler inside the candlestick which makes up more than half of it’s total weight.

Sterling Silver Candlestick

Sterling Silver Mirrors

Sterling silver mirrors are something else you will run into, the picture below was taken after the actual glass/mirror was removed, the weight of the original items intact was 575 grams, after we removed the glass/mirror the actual weight of the sterling silver was129 grams.

Sterling Silver Mirror

If you have more questions about sterling silver, jewelry, coins or silverware etc visit our Silver FAQ page devoted to just that.

Under paying their clients. This is a pretty straight forward thing to explain, your unwanted gold jewelry is worth money, the gold buyer determines how much they want to pay, we pay a fair rate which is 80% of the actual gold value, I believe this is fair as we have associated costs such as rental costs, employee costs, operating expenses such as gas, power, property taxes, supplies etc.  Many companies pay far less, many companies try to rip off the public by paying as little as they can even as low as 25% or lower, this is terrible but you can avoid these companies simply by doing some comparative pricing, if a company won’t tell what they pay per gram, move on, they are likely going to rip you off.

Under weighing your items.  Hard to believe but it’s true, many companies will weigh the items but mis quote you on the real weight, always make sure they tare out the scales and show you the weight, don’t take their word for it.  If  you’re using a mail in service you must know the weight before you send it, you should also know the karat of your items so you can get a rough quote ahead of time.

Misrepresenting their pricing. Another common trick these days are companies who list their pricing in pennyweight or dwt instead of grams, this makes  their prices look much higher if you don’t know what a pennyweight is, a pennyweight of dwt is actually 1.55 grams, again if they are trying to mislead you this way I’d steer clear as they will likely try to low ball you.

For the most part companies that run national television campaigns are paying some of the lowest prices around, they have large advertising expenses and thus have to make up the difference somewhere and that is by paying you a low price for your unwanted gold jewelry.

Email Scams

This is another area that I get inquiries from on a daily basis, in a nutshell it goes a little like this, scam artists from Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and many other countries send me emails like this:

Quote:

“Hello Sir,

We are small scale Gold miners here on the sub-region of West Africa . We have 600 kg of alluvial Gold Dust for sale at a considerable price per kilo which is below world market price. If you are interested, do not hesitate to get back to us as soon as possible for us to give you our full co-operate offer (FCO).

We look forward in doing a long lasting business transaction with you.

Attah Anthony”

End Quote

Now out of curiosity I did reply to a couple of these inquiries, here is the next of their emails to me:

Quote:

Dear Mr.john

How are you? I write to inform you that I have acknowledged the receipt of your mail and we are ready  and willing to transact gold business with you.

we are small scale Gold miners here on the sub-region of West Africa  and we have 600 kg of alluvial Gold  which is being deposited with Zpower Gold Ghana ltd a private gold license dealers and I want to let you know that we use to deposit all our produce to Zpower gold Ghana ltd because they are authorized to export and import gold and therefore I will appreciate if you can send your financial director to come down to Ghana so that we can see face to face and discuss how we can commence the shipment of the 600 kg we deposited with Zpower gold Ghana ltd.

Below are the offers of Zpower gold Ghana ltd to their customers.

1, Zpower gold Ghana ltd will prepare letter of invitation that will enable you to obtain an entry visa to Ghana.

2, Zpower gold Ghana ltd is responsible for your accommodation during the period of the transaction.

3, ZPower gold Ghana ltd will also provide their company car and a driver that will take you around during the period of the transaction.

4,Z POWER GOLD LTD

32 KOFI ANAN ST.,NORTH LEGON,ACCRA,GHANA

P.O. Box 1801, Teshie Nungua, Accra, Ghana

Tel. (+233)(0) 21-500-565  or (+233)(0) 242-005-244/543/203-469

Facsimile (+233)(0) 21-500-566 or (+1) 602-532-7517
FULL CORPORATE OFFER (FCO) FOR THE SUPPLY OF AU GOLD DUST
Our Ref: ZPGGL/2010……..                                                          Your Ref…………
From: ZPower Gold Ghana Ltd.
COMMODITY  : AU (GOLD)
FORM   : Alluvial DUST or Bars.
TOTAL QUANTITY :           750 kgs
PURITY   : 22 Carats  (916.5) minimum  :
ORIGIN   : GHANA / WEST AFRICA
PRICE   : US$20,000 per kg.
PAYMENT   :      CASH  OR SWIFT WIRE TRANSFER
PROCEDURE:
1. Seller sends Buyer Full Corporate Offer (FCO)
2. Buyer signs and returns FCO in their own chosen format
3. Seller and Buyer sign Contract after the final report to the buyer’s Refinery buyer to

wire by TT. Telegraphic transfer, to seller’s account.
4. Seller\s accounts within 96 hours, less the shipment cost, And other Government taxes.
DOCUMENTS:
A. Commercial Invoice
B. Certificate of Origin and Ownership
C. Airway Bill marked ‘freight prepaid’
D.  Assay Certificate or Report from GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DEPARTMENT.

SELLER

Signed:

Bankers: United bank for Africa, Intercontinental bank ltd, Standard chartered bank plc

Further information will be given to you when I hear from you.

Kind Regards.

End Quote

The next email they always get around to asking me to send them funds so they can ship the gold to me,  hmmm, not something I would do but evidently someone does as I get these on a daily basis.  Others will also try to convince you to travel to them to inspect the gold.  Now I’m not the only one to receive these emails as I get calls daily from the general public who have received the same email and they call me looking for quotes on the ‘supposed’ gold for sale, I sincerely hope no one actually gives these thieves any money.

Many of these same con artists also contact me on the phone, I can predict when they’re calling as they are always using Skype to make their calls.

Another little scam that seems to be gaining some head way are people that are phoning refining companies or gold buyers such as myself stating that they have established mines and require funds to extract the gold.  Their proposal is that they would like me to advance them funds so they can get their extracting process started, in turn they will sell me the gold at a discount within 6 to 9 months.  I must say the gentleman I spoke to sounded quite professional but honestly, who would send someone funds ahead of time for a process like this unless you are an expert geologist?

Here’s another email I get quite frequently, again another gold scam from Ghana, from a prince no less :

Quote:

 DEAR SIR,
INTRODUCTION AND OFFER OF GOLD AND DIAMOND
WE PRESENT TO YOU OUR OFFER AS FOLLOWS.

COMMODITY     -------   ALLUVIAL GOLD DUST
QUANTITY            -------   150KGS
QUALITY               -------   23 CARAT PLUS (92.5) PURITY
PRICE                    -------    $2200 (Two thousand, two hundred dollars)
CONDITIONS AND TERMS.

THE BUYER IS OBLIGED TO COME TO GHANA TO MEET THE SELLER TO NEGOTIATE AND
ASSIST IN THE SHIPMENT OF THE MERCHANDISE TO BUYERS DESTINATION. THE BUYER IS
OBLIGED TO CONDUCT AN INTIAL ASSAY TEST ON THE MERCHANISE, YOUR CONSENT AND
APPROVAL ON THIS OFFER IS NEEDED TO ENABLE US TO PREPARE A CONTRACT AGREEMENT,
AS OTHER RELEVANT DETAILS SHALL BE SENT TO YOU ON REQUEST. PLEASE CONTACT ME
VIA PHONE NUMBER OR EMAIL:

AWAITING YOUR PROMPT AND POSITIVE RESPONSE
YOURS FAITHFULLY
PRINCE MALUNZE.
MALUNZE & SONS CO.

End Quote

Your Input:

I’ll keep you posted as I come across more cash for gold schemes, if you have any you’d like to report for me to post please see our contact page for details on how to send your experiences.

Bullion:

Q: I have 2 JM 10 oz Silver bars, 8 JM 1 gram silver bars and a Credit Suisse 5 gram gold bar.  Do you buy these and what would you pay for each?

A:  Yes, we do purchase those items, I’ve listed prices below:

10 oz Silver Bars: $158.00 each  5 gram Fine gold bar: $166.50 each  I’m not too sure about the ’8 JM 1g silver bars ‘, I’ve never seen 1 gram silver bars, are you sure they’re not gold?

Q: I would like to sell 5 – one ounce Canadian Mint gold bars. Please let me
know what your current rates are as well as what is the process for getting
these to you.

A: We are currently paying $1076.70 per ounce.  You can find our downloadable shipping/payment on our website.

Q:  I will explain what I have for sale .It consist of 2 silver bar of one kilo each from Johnson Matthey with serial number D027215 and D030284 at 999+ wich is the purity of the silver.I also have coins of 20.00 of gold 1967 ,let me have appointement if you want to see them .I also have a Baume Mercier watch paid 12 tousand dollar in 1970 .

A:  I have listed pricing below:

1 kilo Silver bars: $506.00 CAD per bar.
1967 $20 Gold coins (Canadian)): $441.72 per coin (assuming they weigh 18.2 grams each)
Regarding the watch,  I would need to see it to provide you with pricing, we purchase karat gold watches with gold bezels and bands based on gold content.  Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Q: I have a 1 oz 1985 Canadian maple, what is your best offer on it?

A: We would pay $1,046.25 for your gold Maple. March 10th, 2010.

Q: I have a one kilo bar of silver i’ve had for a long time as well as some sterling silverware that i might be interested in selling.

A: We would pay $488.80 for your 1 kilo silver bar. Do you happen to have a rough idea on how much your sterling silverware weighs.

Gold Jewelry:

Q: There is however, a stamp on the bail which is very hard to make out, but appears to show the letters “CAL”.  Is this not real gold because of the missing kt stamp? The jewellery dealer says it is truly 10k but I could not get a straight answer about the “CAL” stamp?  Thank you in advance, for any information that might help shed some light on this confusion for me.

A:   Thank you for your enquiry,  sometimes the gold hallmarks are hard to find and to read.  I am always surprised that a lot of jewellers don’t seem to know a lot about hallmarks and makers marks.  Anyways if he tested your item and found it to be 10k it likely is, he can easily perform an acid test to determine this and sounds like he must have.  Without seeing it, it sounds to me like the CAL is the makers or manufacturers mark which is quite common on most jewelry, the karat mark should be located close to the makers mark.

Q: I would like to sell a 22 carat gold bangle weight of 31.1 grams. I would also
like to sell a .74 carat diamond solitare ring. Cut: proportioning: medium -
62% table; normal crown angle, slightly deep pavilion, good shape; cutlet is
high.

A:  Thank you for your enquiry, we would pay $732.40 for your bangle, unfortunately we no longer purchase gemstones just the metals gold, silver and platinum.  Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Q: I have 2- 14 carat gold rings was curious what i would receive for them?

A: The price your rings would fetch would depend on their weight, I can tell you we are currently paying $14.65 per gram for 14k gold jewelry.  For example a quarter weighs 5 grams, if you hold a quarter or quarters in one hand and your rings in the other you should get a rough idea on their weight.

Q: Just looking on a price for white and yellow gold mens chain at 48 grams of 18 karat gold. Please don’t ask me to come in to see it. Just want a price, thanks.

A: We would pay $906.25 for your chain, let me know if I can be of further assistance. We are currently paying $18.88 per gram for 18k gold so you simply mulitply $18.88 by 48 grams to get your payment price.

Gold Hallmarks:

Q: I have found a bracelet and would like to know if it is worth anything.  It has a 14K stamp on it as well as another stamp that I cannot see really well.  It may be “IDI” or just a “D”.  How do I find out what this means.

A: The 14k stands for 14 karat gold.  The letters after the 14k are the makers or manufacturers initials. For our purposes the value of the bracelet would depend on it’s weight.

Gold Nuggets:

Q: Hi,  I was wondering if you purchase small gold nuggets.If you do how much per gram do you pay for small gold nuggets.

A: Yes we do purchase gold nuggets, the price varies depending on their actual gold content, we have received nuggets that contain anywhere from 10% to 95% actual gold content, the only way to know for sure is to melt them into a button and assay them. We pay 85% of the actual gold content.

Silverware:

Q: I have a set of silverware from the 50`s in wooden box. A set of eight silverplate with serving untensils…Name is Bridal Vail by Tudor Plate. Also have a charm bracelet with charms form the 70`s… sterling silver. Wondering if you would buy those items and an idea of what you would pay for them..rought idea. Going to TO at the end of the month and would bring them in if your interested. Annette

A: Thank you for your enquiry, we do purchase sterling silverware, price is determined by weight, as an example we’ve paid anywhere from $200.oo to $1,200.00 for various sets, it’s difficult to give you a rough estimate without knowing the weight.  The silverware we purchase needs to have one of the following silver hallmarks: Ster, Sterling, Sterling Silver, Stg, 925 or 958.  It would be best to check your set before bringing it in, if it doesn’t have one of the hallmarks above it is likely silver plated and not something we would purchase.  The same applies to the charm bracelet.

Q: I have a bunch of silverware id like to send in, but before sending it in i would like to know if there’s any form of test i can do to check as to whether or not it is silver or plated silver, to save myself the shipping expense and you guys the time!

A: Thank you for your enquiry, any silverware we purchase needs to be sterling silver or 800 silver and should have one of the following hallmarks: Ster, Sterling, Sterling Silver, Stg, 925, 958 or 800 followed by makers initals.  If your items are not hallmarked they are likely silver plated.  Hope that helps.

Q: I have many silver items, including serving spoons, silver flatware and teas service, Is this something you are interested in?  I have pictures for your perusal if interested.

A: Yes, we do purchase sterling silver, are you items hallmarked with one of the following marks: Ster, Sterling, Sterling Silver, Stg, 925 or 800 followed by 3 letters.

Gold Parties:

Q: I will be hosting an Silpada Sterling silver jewellery party on March 19/10 and thought perhaps hosting a gold party at the same time may compliment each other.  People can purchase new jewellery with the money they make from their old jewellery.  Can you please give me more information about hosting a gold party.  Thank you.

A: Yes, Gold Parties do work well with other theme parties for the reason you’ve mentioned, unfortunately we are not currently hosting parties in Alberta.   Our experience has been that once we give cash for gold to your party guests they are more than happy to go and spend their new found cash purchasing items at or from your other party vendors, it’s a great way to double end parties!

Dental Gold:

Q: How can I separate gold from ceramics in dental bridgework prior to submitting  for sale?

A: We use a specialty machine that pulverizes the dental scrap before melting.  It is best to remove as much tooth matter, porcelain and ceramics beforehand, the best way you can do this is to use a hammer (regular or 3 pound), put the material on top of a hard surface, say a concrete floor, then place either cardboard or a thick plastic or both over the scrap dental material, you then hit it with a hammer, this will disintegrate the majority of the tooth matter, porcelain and ceramics which will speed up the pricing process.  Doesn’t sound pretty I know but it works well.

The most important lesson to remember when learning about buying gold bullion is that you should never pin all your hopes on a single deal. This is a recipe for disaster because if you put all your eggs in a single basket then if that investment goes wrong you stand to lose a lot of money. Instead, you should try to make your investment portfolio as diverse as possible so that you can be sure if something goes wrong with one investment you won’t lose too much money.

There are several options when it comes to buying gold. For example, you could buy gold coins or bars. When buying gold make sure you buy only if it’s considered investment grade i.e. stamped from a recognized refinery with .999 fine. You could also buy silver, platinum or palladium bullion if you want to diversify with different metals so that if the price of one drops you won’t necessarily lose your entire portfolio.

Apart from buying physical gold you could also consider buying digital gold which is sometimes called e-gold.  Many companies offer what are called Pool accounts, they work like this, you set up an account with the company ( I have a Kitco pool account) you then choose how many ounces of gold, silver or platinum you want to purchase, they store the metal for you, when you want to sell your bullion you simply login to your account and sell it, they mail you your cheque or you can keep the funds in your pool account if you plan on buying something else in the future.  Pool accounts take to worry out of storing your metals, just make sure you use a well known and respected company.

Gold bullion is available in a wide variety of sizes such as:1 gram, 5 grams, 10 grams, 50 grams, 100 grams, 1000 grams, 1 oz, 5 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz and 400 oz.  You can also purchase a wide variety of gold bullion coins, some of the more well known gold coins are; 1 oz Maple .999, 1 oz Maple .9999, 1 oz Maple .99999, 1 oz Australian Nugget, 1 oz Vienna Philharmonic, 1 oz Chinese Panda and the 1 oz Krugerrand.

Whether you want to invest in a gold coin, bar or ingot  or open a pool account you need to make sure you understand the process and the risks before you start. Just because prices for gold seem to be rising regularly at the moment does not mean that this will always be the case and the market can change very quickly. With that said, the potential rewards of buying and selling gold are large and you need to be willing to take a certain amount of risk if you want to make money in the long run.

My most successful transaction over the past few years has been in Palladium, I was fortunate enough to purchase Palladium a couple years back at $190 per ounce, as it sits today that same Palladium is now worth $466.00 per ounce.  I’m not a financial expert but I am a gold buyer, I purchase everything at a discount, I also watch for large drops in prices, this is when I buy, it’s worked out well for me but I do watch precious metal prices daily and when you’re involved in an industry you get a feel for what’s going on.

The first thing you need to know is that there are a number of different places you can buy a silver bullion bar and each will have a different price. For example, you could try looking for silver using online auction sites such as eBay or a local dealer. The trick to making an investment that will pay off in the long run is to find the best price possible by searching all these potential sellers.  The problem with ebay is that sellers on ebay know what their silver is worth and are usually looking for a premium on their bars.

You also need to be aware that not all silver bars are equal. For example, high quality bars will have a marking of where they were made, how much they weight and what fineness they contain. Investment quality silver bars will have the name and serial number of the refinery stamped on it.  If you come across bars that are unmarked stay away from them unless you really know your stuff, there are counterfeit gold and silver bars around these days.   If you want to get the highest quality silver you should look for 99.9% fineness as they are 999/1000 pure silver.  Fine gold, silver and platinum are considered financial instruments and are therefore sales tax do not apply to them at least here in Canada.

Silver bars come in a variety of sizes as listed below:

• 1 gram
• 10 gram
• 1 ounce (31.1 grams)
• 5 ounce
• 10 once
• 100 ounce
• 50 grams
• 500 grams
• 1000 grams (kilo bars)
• 50 ounce
• 100 ounce (my personal preference as it’s all I can afford at this time
• 1000 ounce

Silver bullion is also available as Silver Rounds, Canadian Silver Maples, Chinese Pandas, Olympic Coins and more.

When buying silver bullion you need to be constantly aware of the current market price for silver. This will greatly affect whether a particular piece of silver is worth investing in so you need to watch the market closely to identify any potential trends. However, you shouldn’t expect to get silver bullion for the market price when buying from a bullion manufacturer because they’ll add manufacturing costs as well as a profit margin.

One thing that many people overlook when buying silver bullion is where they’re going to keep them. Silver isn’t like other investments in that it’s a physical thing and hence needs to be stored. It may be worth getting a safe box at a bank to store your silver so you know it’ll be safe. At the very least you should buy a secure safe for your house although this won’t be as protected as storing the silver in a bank.

Once you’ve bought the silver and stored it you then need to think about when to sell it! Silver and gold buyers and refiners will always be happy to purchase your silver bullion.   Keep watching the market to see when the best time to sell to maximize your investment. You don’t want to miss an opportunity so check the market as often as possible.

Unlike other commodities it can be difficult to know the true value of a diamond. For this reason most people choose to get an appraisal from several different and independent jewelers of a diamond before selling so they know how much they can expect to get.  The thing is, appraisals are generated mostly for insurance purposes and don’t reflect the actual amount you can expect to fetch for your stone.  One problem you may have is if your diamond doesn’t have a certificate and in this case you may not be able to sell it for the full price. You can always apply to get one though and this might be a good idea if you find you aren’t receiving acceptable offers. Not all jewelers purchase diamonds, as a matter of fact most do not.

Although ideally you’d like to find a professional diamond buyer this may not always be necessary.   Someone you know and trust may be able to give you a fast sale of your diamond so make sure you ask friends and family whether they’d like to buy. Always ensure you know the true value of the diamond before doing this though.

When it comes to diamonds or any valuable material it generally isn’t a good idea to sell it at a pawn shop. While this can seem like an easy way to sell a diamond in reality you won’t receive anywhere near the full value because the pawn shop won’t be able to sell it on for full price.

If you have a high quality diamond then it’s probably best to sell it at an auction where there will be many people who understand its true value. For a less expensive diamond you could consider selling it direct to a jewelry shop or even through a classified ad in your local newspaper but as you look into doing this you’ll notice there are a ton of other people looking to sell their diamonds as well.

Unfortunately because there are so many people trying to sell their diamonds the market price tends to be quite low.  This is particularly the case with lower quality / smaller stones.  If you diamond has a clairty of SI1 or lower or a color below G-H you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who purchases diamonds to give you much of a price for it.  The stones you can expect to recover a decent amount form are stones .75 carat and higher with good color and clarity.  With regards, to appraisals, as  mentioned they don’t mean a great deal when it comes to the real price you can expect to get for your stones, as  a rough guide I would say you should expect to get anywhere from 9 to 12.5 % of the appraisal value.  Most buyers and brokers use Rapaport as a price guide line, this is an industry publication that gives the approximate high cash asking price in New York for the wholesale diamond industry.
Whether you’re looking for diamond ring buyers or buyers for rough diamonds the first place you should look is the internet. Not all gold buyers necessarily purchase diamonds, as a rule if a company is buying precious metals they aren’t necessarily experts in gemstones.  Searching for diamond buyers in your area will give you a list of potential buyers and also a list of people who have the expertise to give you an accurate appraisal. Even if you need money quickly you should never rush into selling a diamond because you need to make sure you’re receiving a fair price.

Jewelry stores – These are not one of the best places to sell your unwanted silver but you need to remember that they’re buying to make a profit. This means you won’t be able to sell for decent value. As a rule jewelers don’t specialize in purchasing unwanted silver, there isn’t a huge profit in buying scrap silver so many gold buyers stay away from it.  I do purchase silver, although it doesn’t provide a huge profit I tend to accumulate many kilograms before I sell it, while I’m accumulating the bits an pieces the price of silver rises so I’m normally happy when I melt and sell it.

Offline and Online classified ads – Places such as eBay are good places to sell medium to low quality silver although it’s often hit or miss whether you get a good deal. However, if you’re selling expensive silver coins for example then you should definitely avoid places such as eBay and go to an auction house or a professional dealer. Even so, eBay is regularly visited by a lot of knowledgeable silver dealers looking to pick up a good deal so it’s always an option.  The problem with selling on ebay is their fees, once you factor in the ebay fees you’ll see your return deminish substantially.

Auction Houses – It’s usually only worth trying to sell silver jewelry at an auction if you’ve had it valued at a high price.  With silver jewelry this is unlikely, again auction houses will charge a hefty fee that will see you profit eaten away quickly.  Auctions can be stressful and a lot of work so they generally shouldn’t be used to sell low priced items. However, they can be a fantastic place to sell expensive items because there will be many knowledgeable bidders who have the money to buy.

If you’re selling silver coins and they are of collectible quality then you need to make sure you get it graded before you sell. For example, you could ask a company such as NGC to grade your coin which will then define its value to potential bidders. Having your coins graded will make them much more attractive to potential buyers. In fact, some collectors will only buy coins that have been professionally graded so if you’re serious about selling a high priced coin this is an essential step.  If you have older U.S. or Canadian regular coinage (pre 1968 for Canadian and pre 1965 for U.S. coins) you’ll normally be quoted per face dollar, for example as I write this I am currently paying $7.85  for everyone $1.00 worth of U.S. dollar, half dollar, quarters and dimes.  I am currently paying $6.75 for every dollar, half dollar, quarters and dimes that total $1.00.

Normally you’ll be able to sell your unwanted silver to the same company you sell you gold scrap to but no matter where you decide to sell your silver make sure it’s a reputable company or individual. There are unscrupulous silver dealers out there that should be avoided at all costs.  When you selling your scrap silver you should expect to receive approximately 75% of the actual value of the silver content.

Silver bullion has been one of the most undervalued metals over the last few decades.  That is why so many people are buying silver these days.  Unless  you purchase you bars before the most recent surge in price I would hang on to them a little while longer.  Silver is still vastly undervalued and many experts are predicting silver to soar to $50 to $100 dollars per ounce in the next two years.

The first decision you need to make is whether you should sell your gold as jewelry or as metal for scrap. The difference is that if you sell metal as scrap then the value immediately drops compared to what it would be if you sold it as jewelry. For this reason, if you have a choice you should always sell the gold as jewelry, unfortunately doing so is quite difficult and with gold prices near an all time high it will be much easier to sell your unwanted items as scrap. The reason that scrap is usually sold at such a discount – upwards of 50% or more off retail prices in some cases – is because you only get the value of the piece of metal you’re selling rather than the metal plus the craftsmanship and beauty of the design. In some cases you won’t have a choice though.

Another decision you’ll have to make is whether you want to use one of the many “gold for cash” websites and companies which will provide you with real money in exchange for your gold or whether you want to try to sell your piece of jewelry at an auction or to a store. The great thing about “gold for cash” companies is that the process is so simple but the downside is that you won’t get the full value. Selling your unwanted jewelry for scrap is different than selling it for resale, you see pretty much all scrap is melted, not resold so the price you will fetch will greatly depend on the price or spot price of gold on any given day.

So who should you sell your unwanted jewelry to? My business runs mainly on referrals so if you know anyone who has had a positive experience selling their items that would be the first choice in my opinion. If you’re looking for someone on your own it’s easy enough to find a gold buyer by doing some research online, make sure you’re dealing with a reputable company, make sure you can speak to someone in person if you’re planning on shipping your items. Make sure they list or tell you their price in grams, the higher the karat the more per gram you should be receiving. Many companies will list their price in dwt or pennywweight which is deceiving as it makes their prices appear higher, you see one pennyweight/dwt is equal to 1.55 grams, stay away from companies like this.

Scrap gold prices largely determine scrap prices and vary depending on a number of different factors such as currency exchange rates and spot prices. The dealer that you’re planning on selling the gold to will also affect the price you get as they have different profit margins so you should visit several before making your final decision. To check for the exact price of gold you need to visit financial websites which provide an updated list of the cost of many commodities including what the current gold bullion spot price is.

So exactly what is gold scrap? Well, the easiest way to explain that is that it is any unwanted piece of jewelry in any condition, scrap can consist of gold, silver or platinum earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, chains, brooches, body jewelry, dental gold and more. Selling your unwanted jewelry can be  a great way of getting some extra money quickly and easily. With current record high of gold and the number of people in need of cash there is certainly no shortage of individuals and companies anxious to purchase your items, with some research you’ll be able to get a good price for your items.