If you are looking for the value of your gold dental scrap such as bridges, crowns, sweeps, inlays, caps, castings, and teeth you first need to determine its gold content. Often you can find the value of normal gold items by looking at it. Usually the karat amount is marked on the item with an inscription like 10K, 18k, 20k etc. However when it comes to scrap dental gold, it’s not such an easy task to determine the karat value. If you wanted to do this at home you can purchase an acid test from a jewelry supplier online to determine the karat amount. For most people, it’s much more convenient to find a reputable gold buyer who will do the testing for you.
You must determine the fineness of your gold or its karat amount to find its value. Much of the dental scrap gold used today is around 18 Karats. Sometimes you can find gold buyers online who offer a gold calculator from their website. In this case you would add the weight, and the appropriate karats of the item to calculate the total. By comparing the total dental gold value they give you to today’s spot gold price, you can determine how much commission the gold buyer is taking for themselves. Before sending in your gold for an estimate and monetary offer it’s a good idea to get the accurate weight of the item you wish to sell. To help determine the value of your gold scrap you need to select a unit of measurement which is usually in the form of grams or pennyweight.
It’s important to remember the following when calculating the value of your scrap gold. 31.1 grams equals 1 troy ounce, and 20 dwt [pennyweight] equals one troy ounce. So if you wanted to determine today’s gold price per gram you would find today’s spot gold price, and divide by 31.1 to get the price of gold per gram. For example, if today’s price of gold is $1540. Then $1540 divided by 31.1 equals $49.52 a gram.
In my experience I’ve found many gold buyers will take 20% to 30% of the gold’s value as their fee. Pawnshops have a larger overhead and on average pay about 50% less than what the gold is actually worth. Often online gold buyers will keep their calculation amounts a secret, since they don’t want to run the risk of entering into an online bidding war with their competition. When you find a gold buying site that is reputable you can usually request a gold mailing package to send them your gold for them to analyze.
Even though many gold buyers offer automatic insurance up to $1000, it’s always a good idea to personally insure your package to protect your investment. Another thing to note when selling your scrap dental gold online, is that you don’t have to worry about removing porcelain, tooth parts, metal or cement from the item. You can send in what you have and receive a check in the mail. Make sure the company you sell your dental scrap gold to a refund clause that allows you to return the check if you’re unsatisfied.