How to identify & determine the value of precious metals

You are very well aware of the steadily increasing value of precious metals. Many people ask us how they can become a part of the lucrative precious metals recycling industry. We encourage anyone interested to get involved in the reclaiming process as it is beneficial to our environment and economy to recycle as much metal as possible that is unwanted or unused. Recycling lessens the environmental impact the demand for these metals creates by eliminating the demand of mining and the excessive use of fuel and toxic chemicals used throughout the process.

You can start by going through your own stores of jewelry and serving ware. Many people have boxes of unused jewelry and silver flatware handed down from previous generations. Gather up all of your metals that may contain silver, gold or platinum group metals. Be sure to get a hold of some type of magnifying glass or jewelers loupe or other device, preferrably 10x magnification.

Sort out your groups of metals by color. For example, put all of the copper colored metals in one pile, white metals in another, brass metals, gold metal, etc.

Now you can begin to carefully examine each piece for hallmarks and stamps to determine the composition or alloy from which it is made. What you are looking for are any references to the type of metal and its purity. The following is a group of common hallmarks and assay values found on each type of metal. Keep in mind that there will be items that are stamped improperly because of error, inexperience and by those who wish to mislead buyers. You should always consult a professional or use a method that allows for near certain identification before purchasing precious metals.

Gold Hallmarks & Stamps: Gold comes in many colors, most common are yellow and white but you may encounter green, chocolate, rose, pink, and many other colors. Gold is alloyed mostly with copper, nickel, zinc, and silver. Different combinations of these "base metals" will create different color alloys.

8K or 333 indicates an alloy made with at least 8 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .333% Gold Content

9K or 375 indicates an alloy made with at least 9 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .375% Gold Content

10K or 417 indicates an alloy made with at least 8 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .416% Gold Content

12K or 500 indicates an alloy made with at least 12 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .50% Gold Content

14K or 583 or 585 indicates an alloy made with at least 14 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .583% Gold Content

16K indicates an alloy made with at least 16 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .667% Gold Content. This alloy is normally found in dental gold castings.

18K or 750 indicates an alloy made with at least 18 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .75% Gold Content This is very commonly found in Italian made jewelry and fine yellow gold jewelry creations.

19.2K or 800 indicates an alloy made with at least 19.2 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .80% Gold Content. This is most common in South American areas and is commonly referred to as Portugese Gold. This gold is very rich in yellow color and soft.

20K or 833 indicates an alloy made with at least 20 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .833% Gold Content

21K or 875 indicates an alloy made with at least 21 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .875% Gold Content

22K or 916 indicates an alloy made with at least 22 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .916% Gold Content

23K or 950 indicates an alloy made with at least 23 parts of gold per 24 parts metal or .950% Gold Content. This is near pure gold with minor impurities.

24K or 999 or 9999 indicates an alloy made with pure gold and is at least .999% Gold. This is gold that has gone through refinement at several levels to remove all impurities.

Take Note that any other hallmarks or stamps such as: HGE, Rolled Gold Plate, Gold Filled, Plate, Plated, RGP, EP, 1/10, 1/20, 1/3, Etc. Indicate a plated or rolled gold portion and most of the item will be made from copper, nickel, and Zinc. These are commonly found in costume jewelry and watch cases. USA Gold Buyers does not purchase or refine plated or impregnated material.

Platinum Group Metals: Platinum can be marked as Platinum, PT, PT 900, PT 950, PT 800, Platinum / Iridium, Platinum 90% Iridium 10%, Plat, etc. In addition to platinum, you may come accross palladium which is designated as PD, PALL, Palladium, etc. Further, Rhodium is commonly found in a plate layer on jewelry, giving it a bright white and durable finish.

Silver Metals: Silver can be marked as .500, .800, .830, .835,.900, 925, .935 and 950 or may also be designated as "sterling" , "coin silver", "AG", "argent" or "argentum".

You can simply determine the value of your items by converting the weight units of each item back to troy ounces, multiply that factor by the metals purity and finally, multiply that result by the current market per troy ounce price. For example, if you have 47 grams of 18k gold you would first convert grams back to troy ounces by multiplying the number of grams by .03215 and that equals 1.511 ounces, when multiplied by 75% which represents the gold purity, you are left with 1.13 troy ounces. Mulitply the end result by the metals current spot price and that is your value.

Below are list with weight conversion calculations. Call us if you need help with this.

TROY OUNCES

• 12 Troy ounces = 1 Troy pound
• 1 troy ounce = 480 grains
• 1 troy ounce = 20 pennyweights (dwt)
• 1 troy ounce = 1.097 ordinary (Avoirdupois) ounce
• 1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams
• 14.583 troy ounces = 1 ordinary (Avoirdupois) pound
• 32.15 troy ounces = 1 kilogramme

PENNYWEIGHTS (DWT)

• 1 pennyweight = 24 grams
• 1.55 grams = 1 pennyweight
• 20 pennyweight = 1 troy ounce
• 240 pennyweight = 1 troy pound
• 24 grains = 1 pennyweight
• 1 pennyweight = .05 troy ounce
• 1 gram = .643 pennyweight

GRAM

• 1 gram = .03215 troy ounce
• 1 gram = .643 pennyweight
• 1.55 grams = 1 pennyweight