Sell Gold Scrap

Scrap gold is valued purely by weight and purity

Old jewelry, mismatched earrings, dental gold, broken chains, outdated rings — none of it needs to be wearable or attractive to have value. Scrap gold is priced the same way as anything else: weight × karat × today's spot price. Style, condition, and age are irrelevant once a piece is being sold for its metal content. Use the calculator above to check the melt value of each karat group you have.

Sort by karat before you weigh anything

This is the single most important step if you're selling a mixed lot of old gold. If you hand over a pile containing 10K, 14K, and 18K pieces together, an unscrupulous buyer may simply weigh everything and price the whole lot at the lowest karat in the mix — shortchanging you on the higher-karat pieces. Before selling:

• Check the karat stamp on each piece (10K, 14K, 18K, or 417/585/750).
• Group items by karat into separate piles.
• Weigh and value each karat group separately using the calculator above.
• Ask the buyer to weigh and price each group in front of you, not as one combined lot.

Dental gold and unusual scrap

Dental crowns and bridges are often gold alloys, sometimes mixed with other metals like palladium. If you have dental gold, ask a buyer specifically about its testing process — some dental alloys are lower karat than they appear, and proper testing (acid test or electronic tester) matters more here than with standard jewelry.

Condition truly doesn't matter

Tarnished, bent, missing stones, odd colors from wear — none of it changes the underlying gold weight or karat. Don't clean, polish, or try to "improve" scrap gold before selling it; it won't affect the price and isn't necessary. The only prep that actually helps is sorting by karat and removing any non-gold parts (stones, plastic, steel pins) so you're weighing gold only.

Who pays the most for scrap

Dedicated gold buyers and refiners generally pay more for scrap than general pawn shops, because they deal in volume and have direct refining relationships rather than reselling through a middleman. A refiner in particular can offer strong pricing on larger mixed lots, though minimum quantities sometimes apply. Compare a specialized buyer's offer against a pawn shop's before deciding.

Getting the best price

• Sort by karat first — this alone can meaningfully increase your total payout on a mixed lot.
• Remove stones, clasps of unknown metal, and non-gold parts before weighing.
• Get two or three quotes, ideally including a dedicated gold buyer or refiner.
• Bring photo ID; most states require it for precious-metal sales.