I have 8 ounces of gold sheets for dental use from the 1880’s and platinum from the 1800’s as well. The platinum is in a powder form. Wondering what the value of these items would be today. From Katie in Memphis, Tennessee

Hi Katie,

To know the actual value of the precious metal contained in your dental sheets we would have to weigh them separately and test for the level of fine gold they possess. Because your items are over 200 years old, the dental products were probably manufactured much differently than they are now, so it would be hard to classify them as dental scrap like we do today. We pay less for dental scrap than, for instance gold jewelry, because it is harder to separate the gold from the other metals that dental scrap is alloyed with. If the gold sheets are very pure we could offer as much as 90% if you have more than 2 ounces of pure or fine gold.

It’s hard to say what kind of estimate we could give you on your platinum without knowing how much you have. We usually pay 70% of the dollar value of the platinum recovered.

If you have any documentation on the gold or even pictures that might help us identify the purity of your material, we may be able to provide a more accurate estimate for you. Thanks!

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.