Selling Scrap & Dental Gold
Straight answer
Scrap gold is valued for the gold it contains, not the form it takes. A buyer weighs it, factors in purity, and pays a share of the melt value — typically 70–95%, depending on the buyer and the size of the lot. Dental gold counts, but crowns and bridges often hold other metals, so you are paid only for the actual gold. Gold-plated and gold-filled items hold almost no melt value at all. Before you sell anything, weigh it, identify the karat, and run the numbers yourself.
Scrap gold is the catch-all term for gold sold purely for its metal content: broken chains, single earrings, bent rings, odd-karat oddments, and dental gold. None of it trades on design or brand. It trades on weight and purity. Knowing how that valuation works — and what does not count — is the difference between a fair price and a lowball.
What counts as scrap gold
Scrap is any gold item whose value is the metal inside it rather than its form. In practice that covers a wide range:
- Broken or unwearable jewelry — snapped chains, single earrings, clasps, bent or damaged rings.
- Odd-karat pieces — 9k, 14k, 18k, and mixed lots where the karat varies item to item.
- Dental gold — crowns, bridges, inlays, and old dental work, often 10–22k but variable, and frequently mixed with other metals.
- Gold-filled and gold-plated lots — included here mainly so you know they are usually not worth scrapping (more below).
What unites all of it: a buyer is not paying for the object. They are paying for the gold they can recover from it. That makes scrap the inverse of numismatic value — there is no collector premium, only metal. If a piece has genuine collector or designer worth, scrapping it is the wrong move; see our guide to selling gold jewelry for that distinction.
Dental gold: the gold content is what you are paid for
Dental gold is real and worth recovering, but it is rarely pure. Dental alloys are engineered for hardness and biocompatibility, so they commonly run 10–22k and vary widely between pieces and eras. Older work can be higher-karat; newer cosmetic crowns may contain little gold at all.
Two points matter when you sell it:
- Crowns and bridges often contain other metals — palladium, platinum, silver, and base metals are common in dental alloys. Some of those metals have value; many do not. A refiner can assay the alloy, but a counter buyer will usually estimate conservatively.
- You are paid for the gold content only — and any porcelain, tooth fragment, or non-precious backing is dead weight that gets deducted. Do not expect to be paid on gross weight.
How scrap gold is valued
The math behind every honest scrap offer is the same two-step calculation, then a deduction for the buyer’s margin.
First, the buyer establishes melt value: the weight of the item times its purity times the current spot price of gold. That is the absolute ceiling — the raw value of the recoverable metal.
Then they pay you a percentage of that melt value. Where you land in the range depends on who you sell to:
| Buyer type | Typical % of melt | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Refiner | ~90–95% | Best rates, but oriented to businesses and large lots |
| Specialized gold buyer | ~80–90% | Competitive on decent quantities; varies by shop |
| Local jeweler / pawnshop | ~70–85% | Convenient; rates vary widely, so get more than one quote |
| Mail-in service | often well below melt | Frequently the worst rates; treat with caution |
Refiners pay the most because they melt and assay in volume and skip the retail middleman. The catch is that they are built for businesses — minimum lot sizes, business accounts, and assay fees that only make sense above a certain quantity. For an individual selling a few grams, a reputable local buyer who pays a fair share of melt is usually the practical choice. For the full breakdown of which channel fits your situation, see who pays the most for gold.
How to estimate value before you sell
Never walk into a sale without your own number. The estimate takes a few minutes and turns a vague offer into something you can check.
- Weigh it in grams on a small scale. Separate items by karat if you can, because purity differs.
- Identify the karat from the stamp: 24k = 1.0, 22k = 0.917, 18k = 0.75, 14k = 0.583, 10k = 0.417. Convert each karat to its decimal purity.
- Find pure gold weight: grams times the purity decimal.
- Convert to troy ounces: divide by 31.1 (a troy ounce is about 31.1 grams).
- Multiply by spot to get melt value — then expect to be paid 70–95% of that.
The fastest way to do all of this without arithmetic is our melt value calculator: enter weight, karat, and spot, and it returns the melt figure you can hold an offer against. Worked example: a 30-gram lot of 14k scrap is 30 x 0.583 = 17.5 grams of pure gold, or about 0.56 troy oz. At a spot price near $2,300/oz, melt is roughly $1,290. A fair buyer paying 85% would offer around $1,100. If someone offers $700, you know to walk.
Gold-plated and gold-filled scrap: little to no melt value
This is where sellers most often get a nasty surprise. Gold-plated items carry a microscopically thin layer of gold over a base-metal core — the recoverable gold is a tiny fraction of a gram, usually not worth processing. Gold-filled is thicker than plate but still bonded over base metal, and the recoverable yield is low.
For practical purposes, treat plated and filled items as having negligible melt value. Some buyers will not take them; those who do pay very little, because what they recover barely covers the effort. Solid karat gold — stamped 10k, 14k, 18k, 22k — is what holds real scrap value. The stamp is your first filter.
Avoid the mail-in trap
Mail-in gold services advertise convenience and “free kits,” but they are frequently the lowest-paying channel of all. Once your gold is in their hands, the leverage is theirs: a quoted offer is easy to discount, and getting your items back can be slow. You also lose the ability to compare offers in real time.
Sell where you can see the scale, watch the weighing, and walk away if the number is wrong. Get at least two or three quotes for anything of real value. A reputable local buyer or a refiner you can verify will almost always beat a mail-in envelope — and for the full vetting checklist, start at the selling and valuing hub.
How much is dental gold worth?
Only for the gold it actually contains. Dental gold is usually 10–22k and variable, and crowns or bridges often include palladium, platinum, silver, or base metals plus non-metal material like porcelain. A buyer pays for the recoverable precious metal, not the gross weight, so a crown is worth far less than its size suggests. Weigh it, estimate the gold content, and expect 70–95% of that melt value.
What percentage of melt value do scrap buyers pay?
Typically 70–95%. Refiners pay the most (around 90–95%) but cater to businesses and larger lots; specialized gold buyers and jewelers usually fall in the 70–90% range and are the practical choice for individuals. Mail-in services often pay well below melt. Always calculate the melt value first so you can judge any offer.
Is gold-plated or gold-filled jewelry worth scrapping?
Almost never. Plated items have a microscopically thin gold layer over base metal, and gold-filled is only slightly thicker — the recoverable gold is negligible. Markings like GP, GF, RGP, or 1/20 12k signal these. Only solid karat gold (10k, 14k, 18k, 22k) holds real scrap value.
How do I figure out what my scrap gold is worth before selling?
Weigh it in grams, multiply by the karat purity as a decimal (14k = 0.583), divide by 31.1 for troy ounces, then multiply by the current spot price to get melt value. A melt value calculator does this instantly. Then expect a fair buyer to pay 70–95% of that figure.