Urgent Request -- Going price for Scrap Gold - Retail

[DBM]

This would help me immensely. Can anyone tell me what is the fair market value the average person gets for scrapping their 14 KT gold. I know what the general market price is on the wholesale market/dealer price but desperately would like to have some clarity in the general market value given to the individual customer coming into a jewelry store and asking for scrap value of a few pieces of old gold jewelry and the like. Either as a value of $$ per grams or pennyweight would be good. Anyone''s past experience would be very helpful. Thx

 

[strmrdr]

The places I checked with took the total weight x gold percentage x spot divided by 2.
So 1/2 spot for the actual gold content.
I decided too hold on too it.

 

[denverappraiser]

The price listed in the newspaper or at www.kitco.com is the price that the refineries sell for to large volume buyers. This is known as the 'spot' price.

Refineries pay about 97% of that with a minimum purchase in the neighborhood of a few hundred grams and some assay type fees that will amount to a few hundred dollars. The terms vary from refinery to refinery

Pawn shops and scrappers, at least the ones around here, pay about 30%-60% for small quantities and up to as high as 90% in larger quantities. They fill up their buckets as fast as they can and then ship them off to the refiner to turn it back into cash. Repeat as often as possible. It’s a great business when the price of gold is high and in the paper.

For 14k, take the NY gold price, multiply by 58% and divide by 31.1. At todays gold ($797) that comes to $14.86 at full melt. This makes the street buy price between $5/gr. - $13.30/gr.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[DBM]

Date: 12/11/2007 4:51:51 PM
Author: strmrdr
The places I checked with took the total weight x gold percentage x spot divided by 2.
So 1/2 spot for the actual gold content.
I decided too hold on too it.

i''m sorry storm. could you give that in actual numbers of the market nowadays. is "spot" the number displayed at the top of the ticker displays?

 

[denverappraiser]

What? That wasn’t specific enough for ‘ya?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 12/11/2007 5:04:27 PM
Author: DBM

Date: 12/11/2007 4:51:51 PM
Author: strmrdr
The places I checked with took the total weight x gold percentage x spot divided by 2.
So 1/2 spot for the actual gold content.
I decided too hold on too it.

i'm sorry storm. could you give that in actual numbers of the market nowadays. is 'spot' the number displayed at the top of the ticker displays?

yes..
Neil posted the numbers.
lets say 2gr worth of it...
((((2 x .5/31.1) x $797)x .50) = $14.86

 

[DBM]

Date: 12/11/2007 5:02:45 PM
Author: denverappraiser
The price listed in the newspaper or at www.kitco.com is the price that the refineries sell for to large volume buyers. This is known as the ''spot'' price.

Refineries pay about 97% of that with a minimum purchase in the neighborhood of a few hundred grams and some assay type fees that will amount to a few hundred dollars. The terms vary from refinery to refinery

Pawn shops and scrappers, at least the ones around here, pay about 30%-60% for small quantities and up to as high as 90% in larger quantities. They fill up their buckets as fast as they can and then ship them off to the refiner to turn it back into cash. Repeat as often as possible. It’s a great business when the price of gold is high and in the paper.

For 14k, take the NY gold price, multiply by 58% and divide by 31.1. At todays gold ($797) that comes to $14.86 at full melt. This makes the street buy price between $5/gr. - $13.30/gr.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

no neil that was extremely informative. thx.. your post just came in after i was busy typing. thank you very much

 

[DBM]

Date: 12/11/2007 5:02:45 PM
Author: denverappraiser
The price listed in the newspaper or at www.kitco.com is the price that the refineries sell for to large volume buyers. This is known as the ''spot'' price.

Refineries pay about 97% of that with a minimum purchase in the neighborhood of a few hundred grams and some assay type fees that will amount to a few hundred dollars. The terms vary from refinery to refinery

Pawn shops and scrappers, at least the ones around here, pay about 30%-60% for small quantities and up to as high as 90% in larger quantities. They fill up their buckets as fast as they can and then ship them off to the refiner to turn it back into cash. Repeat as often as possible. It’s a great business when the price of gold is high and in the paper.

For 14k, take the NY gold price, multiply by 58% and divide by 31.1. At todays gold ($797) that comes to $14.86 at full melt. This makes the street buy price between $5/gr. - $13.30/gr.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

question: what is the 58% and the 31.1 representative of?

 

[denverappraiser]

14k is 14/24th gold with the remainder being other alloys, mostly sliver. That’s 58% gold. 18k is 18/24, 10k is 10/24 etc. You can use the same general formula for any karat you like.

There are 31.1 grams in a Troy ounce, which is the unit used in quoting the daily price of gold in the world market. If you wanted a price in pennyweight you would use the same forumla but substitute 20 instead of 31.1.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[DBM]

you have my sincere thanks again Neil

 

[DBM]

could you suggest a mechanical device for testing gold: in 14 KT, 18 KT, and also that can differentiate between gold plating and the real thing. I''ve seen in the trade people using liquids and what not for testing but if there''s a "cleaner" tool that saves the mess i''d prefer that.

 

[denverappraiser]

These work pretty well and are completely non-destructive. The same manufacturer has several different models depending on how serious you want to be. The acid test you've seen involves filing a notch into the piece, which lots of scrappers do but leaves the seller with a damaged piece if you decide not to buy. This strikes me as a much more severe problem than the mess.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[DBM]

Date: 12/13/2007 9:37:32 AM
Author: denverappraiser
These work pretty well and are completely non-destructive. The same manufacturer has several different models depending on how serious you want to be. The acid test you''ve seen involves filing a notch into the piece, which lots of scrappers do but leaves the seller with a damaged piece if you decide not to buy. This strikes me as a much more severe problem than the mess.

Are you sure that these are non-destructive though??... how can you differentiate between thru-and-thru gold vs just gold plated without carving out a little from the metal? in the picture of the tester it looks like it comes accompanied with a little knife for etching into the metal for testing... i could be wrong

have any experience also with MIZAR gold testers??

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 12/13/2007 6:35:10 PM
Author: DBM






Are you sure that these are non-destructive though??... how can you differentiate between thru-and-thru gold vs just gold plated without carving out a little from the metal? in the picture of the tester it looks like it comes accompanied with a little knife for etching into the metal for testing... i could be wrong

have any experience also with MIZAR gold testers??

they are decent according to a pawn shop owner I know casually. (friend of a friend)
What his shop does is use them too check it then weigh the item and if it weighs what it should then its ok.
If it doesn''t then they use the acid test.
They are less reliable than the acid tests but much safer.
It takes experience to buy used gold and not get riped off and too be fair to those selling.

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 12/13/2007 6:35:10 PM
Author: DBM

Date: 12/13/2007 9:37:32 AM

Author: denverappraiser

These work pretty well and are completely non-destructive. The same manufacturer has several different models depending on how serious you want to be. The acid test you've seen involves filing a notch into the piece, which lots of scrappers do but leaves the seller with a damaged piece if you decide not to buy. This strikes me as a much more severe problem than the mess.

Are you sure that these are non-destructive though??... how can you differentiate between thru-and-thru gold vs just gold plated without carving out a little from the metal? in the picture of the tester it looks like it comes accompanied with a little knife for etching into the metal for testing... i could be wrong


have any experience also with MIZAR gold testers??

The test is measuring electrical resistance. Yes, I'm sure they're non-destructive. The acid tests are measuring the speed that a sample (usually a scratching onto a plate) will dissolve in an acid of known molarity. That's why you need the notch, so the contact with the acid is somewhere other than the surface. The MIZAR is very much the same idea as the one I showed above.

Are you thinking of getting into the scrapping business?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[DBM]

I see. Interesting. Think i''ll get your tester Neil. Thank you both.

No interest of getting into the scrapping business Neil but wanted to have more clarity on these issues for when the need arises to give customers trade-in values for their old jewelry. Was in a little bit of a conflict as to how to arrive at a fair price for both ourselves and the customers.... but you and storm really clarified things for me.