Category Archives: Forum Questions

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.

I have 40,000 oz of silver in sludge of 2 mm lbs. Where can I get it refined? From Robert in Indianapolis, Indiana

Hi Robert,

The silver sludge material you describe would be best to sell to a precious metal refiner, as it is not feasible to walk into a pawn shop or other retail establishment to sell.

We recommend having at least 5 pounds of silver sludge material to justify the freight and refining costs. Of course you are way over this minimum recommendation at 40,000 ounces which is about 2,499.99 pounds.

The value of the silver sludge will depend on how much silver is available to refine. Refining photographic sludge often contains about 60 to 80 percent silver, but we can determine a more accurate percentage when we get it in our lab and run analytical tests.

If you are unsure about the amount of silver in your silver sludge, you might send a sample to us, before shipping the 2,000+ pound shipment of material. As you have a large amount of material, we can help arrange freight to our facility.

Thanks for your question Robert!

*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.

Question: I have a 69 piece sterling silver flatware set that weights a total of 104.55 ounces mad by International Company. Included in the set are 10 knives, one pie server, and one cheeses server, which all have stainless steel blades. All of the rest of the metal is sterling silver. – Thanks from Bonnie in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hi Bonnie,

“Where to sell sterling silver flatware?” is becoming a more common question as it becoming outdated, hard to manage and more valuable refined and melted than sitting in a closet.

Thank you for mentioning the pieces that you have in your sterling silverware set that are made with other metals. Did you include these in your total weight of 104.55 ounces you gave? We would recommend weighing these items separately then you will have one weight that you know is all sterling made up of forks and spoons, and a second weight that is not all sterling made up of your knives and other sterling pieces.

For .925 sterling silver flatware we pay 75% of the fine silver content by weight. If you use our silver value calculator, an estimate of what you would receive back is 75% of that total that it gives. The calculator on our website does not take out any percentages. It provides market indications of what your gold and silver is worth if it were in an investment grade form.

Below is a screen shot where we plugged in the daily silver price (currently at $33.66/troy ounce), 104.55 average ounces, and .925 grade silver.

*This price may not reflect the current price of silver when this blog entry was posted.The output from the calculator is not a confirmation of the purchase price from Arch Enterprises.

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.

Question: I have 59.50 grams of 22 kt yellow gold of handmade jewelry from India. Includes 1 necklace, 2 bracelets and 2 earrings. — From Aasha in Dallas, Texas

Hi Aasha,

Thank you for your submission. Gold jewelry from India is usually of very high quality and made with a very high gold content, giving the gold a yellow color. 22k gold is 91.52% gold alloyed with 8.48% of some other type of metal.

Are there any hallmarks or markings that prove the purity of your items? Since you indicated that your items are handmade, we are guessing that there are not hallmarks. We run unmarked pieces through our XRF analytical testing machine that uses x-ray technology to tell what these pieces are composed of. We find that with handmade jewelry from India the standard percent of 22k is not always exact. Sometimes there is a little more and sometimes a little less to recover.

As precious metal refiners, we will pay on the value of your items according to how much gold there is to refine (weight), how high of gold content your items are (purity), and the current price of gold.

Also keep in mind that gold is measured in troy ounces. 59.50 grams = 1.913 troy ounces. Based on our payout schedule, we would be able to offer 85% of the gold value back to you.

*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.

I am looking to sell my sterling siver .925 beads as “scrap” metal. Do you buy this kind of silver? Thank you. From Brian in Fort Dodge, Iowa

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your question! Arch purchases and refines really anything made from sterling silver. These scrap sterling silver beads that you describe sound like the ideal type of material for a refiner. We work with many jewelers and others that sometimes have these beads left over from projects or because they have given up the jewelry making hobby or business.

We only offer return for the silver value. The beads actually get melted down in the refining process and put back into industries that use it.

We would need to know how much of this material you have before we can recommend shipping methods and give you an estimate on your items. If you only have a couple beads, than it might not even be worth shipping. However, if you have pounds of beads or a large amount we can work with you to purchase. Also, unless the beads are marked in some way, we might have to run some analytical tests to test the purity – but let’s go down that road when we come to it.

Let us know if you have more questions or if you would like a silver estimate, you can visit our form to give us some more information about your sterling silver beads.

Here is a previous blog article about “Raw Silver Beads: Value of Raw Silver Beads” that might help you out! Thank you for your question.

*Images displayed is only a representation of the items described in this blog post and may not be true images of the items in question.