Scrapping jewelry is a great way to get rid of broken or unwanted pieces and to get a bit of money for them. Most places are going to offer you a sum of money for any purity of gold with prices fluctuating based on the particular piece itself. There are some factors that do affect the overall value of your scrap gold and how much you can potentially get from it.
What Is Scrap Gold Used For?
A good place to start is to find out just what scrap gold is used for, why is it so desirable? As of yet there is no way to create gold in a lab, it is a naturally occurring mineral in the crust of the earth that cannot be replicated but that can be thinned out or stretched by adding other metals. Scrap gold is most often bought by one company or person then sent off to be melted down and recycled into gold bars, jewelry or other gold items. Since gold is a finite material, it remains valuable even if the piece that it was originally part of is broken.
What Determines the Value of Scrap Gold?
There are two basic elements that apply to all scrap gold and that affect the overall value of the gold. The first is the purity of the gold. There are a few different values or purities of gold. The first is 24 karat, this is pure gold, there are not other materials added. Then there is 22 karat, this is 22 parts gold and 2 parts another metal. The next is 18 karat gold and perhaps the most common. This is gold that is 18 parts gold and 6 parts some other metal. The last is of course 14 karat gold, the material that most gold jewelry that is sold on mass markets are made of. This is gold that is 14 parts gold and 10 parts some other metal.
The less gold that is in the piece the stronger it is but the less value that it carries overall. You can still get some good money from lower karat gold as the gold is going to be sent off, melted down and purified depending on what it is going to be used for.
The next factor that affects value is the weight of the gold that you are trying to sell. The more gold you have to sell the more it is going to be worth. This is a fairly simple concept and when you do go to sell scrap gold, your buyer is more likely to give you closer to full value if you have larger amounts to sell. When a buyer does buy scrap gold, they are not going to give you the full value simply because they are reselling it to be melted down and are looking to make a profit.
Should You Sell Your Scrap Gold?
Scrap gold is going to have a value that is consistent across the board. This means that it does not fluctuate in one place over another. Since the price of gold is relatively consistent, you can use a gold calculator to help you get a basic idea of what the price or the value might be before you go in to sell. Selling gold is a great way to recycle it, to get some money, and to get rid of unwanted gold that you might have on hand.
