Although the buying and selling of coins are our primary business we also buy scrap gold and silver, which will be sent to a refinery for melting (we do not sell anything but coins and related items). On this page we describe what kinds of gold and silver we can buy and the tests that we perform to verify the authenticity of the metal.
We purchase all forms of gold jewelry except for gold-plated items, which have only a thin, unrecoverable layer of gold on the outside. If your item is marked "GF" or "GP", or with a fraction ("1/10" or "1/20", for example), the item is gold-plated. "12K" also signifies gold plating.
Actual gold items will almost always be stamped "10K", "14K", "18K", or "22K" to indicate the purity of the gold. The numbers refer to the karat system, which expresses the gold content as a fraction of 24 ("24K" would signify pure gold). 10K gold is 10/24 pure gold, 14K is 14/24 pure gold, etc. A different marking system expresses the gold content as a percentage, hence one will often see "417" instead of 10K (10K gold is 41.7% pure gold), "585" instead of 14K, or "750" instead of 18K.
However, the fact that an item is stamped as being gold does not mean that it actually IS gold - an enormous amount of fake gold has been produced. To rule out fake items we will perform two tests on most items: a magnet test (actual gold items will not be attracted to a magnet), and an acid test. The acid test involves scraping the alleged gold item on a stone and examining the behavior of the resultant streak when a drop of acid is placed upon it. The streak produced by authentic gold items will remain bright after the acid is applied.
We will purchase most items that are stamped and pass both of the tests described above, however we reserve the right to decline any item.
We cannot purchase gold nuggets or teeth/fillings, since the purity and actual gold content cannot be determined without melting the entire sample.
The City of Cartersville requires us to obtain identification from each person selling us scrap gold.
We also purchase silver jewelry, plates, silverware, etc. Generally speaking we only purchase items that are marked as being sterling silver - sterling items are 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals (usually copper). These will be stamped with either "STERLING" or "STER", or with the number "925" (or occasionally "950"). Older items may signify sterling with a set of hallmarks (symbols). Unfortunately fake silver items also exist. As is the case with gold, testing with a magnet will rule out some items (silver will not be attracted to a magnet), and a streak test may be performed on questionable items.
We do not purchase silver-plated items.