How do you work out the value of my old precious metal?

Often the value of spare precious metal is referred to as ‘scrap gold’. Gold, and other precious metals such as platinum and silver, have intrinsic value. As well as used in jewellery, these metals have industrial uses, as well as being stockpiled by governments around the world, which makes them highly valued.

The most important aspect of assessing the value of precious metal is working out the purity of the metal. Jewellery is made in different purities, such as 9ct, 18ct and 22ct. Occasionally jewellery is made in pure gold, although the jewellery tends to be very soft and fragile.

In the UK we have a Hallmarking system. Each piece of jewellery sold in the UK must be tested and stamped with the type and purity of the precious metal. Items that are Hallmarked are easy to identify, often though on older items Hallmarks may be worn or missing completely.

Most items bought abroad are not Hallmarked but may often have a stamp as to the purity of the precious metal.

Items with no stamp, or Hallmark, must be chemically tested to ascertain the metal purity.

Once we have established the purity of the precious metal, we weigh the metal to find out how much ‘pure’ metal there is. The weight is then calculated by the price of gold fixed on that day.

We deduct a small admin fee for processing spare precious metal. This works out around £25 per transaction and covers the cost of metal testing and postage.

The full value of your spare precious metal can be credited toward your Legacy jewellery.