What we buy · Scrap & Mixed Lots
Selling Scrap Gold and Mixed Lots
The bag at the back of a drawer. Odd earrings, broken chain, a class ring, something that might be silver, and several things nobody can identify.
No appointment needed. No obligation to sell.
Live metal market
This is the market your offer is calculated against — not a chart printed last week. Your items are tested and weighed at the counter, and the arithmetic is done in front of you.
Fort Lauderdale
3562 N Ocean Blvd, Suite B
Galt Ocean Mile
Walk in
Mon–Fri 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
No appointment needed
2004
Buying gold in Broward County since
1983
Family owned and buying in Broward since
87,000+
Items sold on eBay at a 100% rating
Live
Spot pricing, tested and weighed in front of you
Before you sell
What to watch out for
Mixed lots are where flat-rate buyers make their money. Offering one price for a bag containing 10k, 18k, silver and plate is profitable for whoever is buying, because the whole bag gets valued at the lowest common denominator.
At the counter
How this one is valued
Sorting is the work. Weighing is the last five minutes. A mixed bag goes past a magnet first, which pulls the steel and the spring clasps out of the count. Then it splits by mark into piles, and every pile gets tested rather than trusted. Plated and filled pieces are found by testing a filed spot or an edge, because a plate layer reads as solid gold on the surface and as base metal a hair below it. Only then does each pile go on the scale as its own weight.
How we handle it
- Sorted by metal and karat before anything is weighed.
- Each group weighed and priced separately, in front of you.
- Plated and base metal identified and set aside, not quietly included.
- No minimum quantity — a single ring is fine.
Said plainly
When it is worth more than the metal
A mixed lot, as a lot, is worth its metal. Nobody pays a premium for a bag of broken chain and there is no collector market for volume. What changes is what is inside the bag. A signed pendant, a key-date coin, a platinum band, a piece of Deco filigree: any of those is worth more out of the bag than in it, and that is the whole argument against selling a bag as one lump. We pull those out and say so. The rest is metal, plainly and simply.
Trade sellers
Selling from a bench
We buy trade scrap as well. Bench sweeps, lemel, filings, polishing dust, casting sprue and leftover sizing stock — the material that collects under a bench rather than in a drawer. It is a different transaction from a member of the public bringing in a bag of broken chain. The grade is lower, the metal arrives mixed with abrasive and bench dirt, and the question is how much recoverable metal the lot holds rather than what each piece is, because there are no pieces to sort into karat piles. A bench is usually a repeat relationship, so call before you drive over rather than walking in cold.
What not to do
Before you bring it in
Empty the drawer, do not curate it. Bring the container itself, including whatever has collected at the bottom, because broken links, snapped settings and loose stones live down there. Skip the home tests. A magnet tells you a piece is not steel, which brass and copper also are not, and a hardware-store acid kit on an unmarked piece gives you a wrong answer you will then argue from. Do not cut, file or break anything open to see inside. And do not bin the plated pieces yourself, because being wrong once costs more than carrying the bag.
Bringing it in
Do not sort it, do not clean it, and do not throw anything out first. The things people assume are worthless are frequently the things worth testing.
The market right now
These are live spot prices per troy ounce. They are the starting point for the arithmetic, not the offer — see what your gold is worthfor how a counter price is actually built.
A mixed lot does not have a weight. It has several. Ten karat, fourteen, eighteen, sterling and platinum each come off the scale separately and are priced on their own basis, so a fair slip for one bag carries several lines. A single weight and a single price for the whole bag is the clearest sign the sorting never happened.
FAQ
Common questions
- Should I sort it myself?
- No. Sorting by eye is how mistakes happen. Bring it as it is.
- Is there a minimum?
- No. A single item is fine.
- What about plated pieces?
- We identify them and set them aside. They are not paid for as solid metal.
- Do you charge for testing?
- No. Testing and valuation are free whether or not you sell.
- What counts as scrap gold?
- Anything gold not being sold as a piece: broken chain, single earrings, class rings, bent settings, dental work, snapped clasps. Condition is irrelevant, because it is priced on metal content. Plated and filled items are not scrap gold and we separate them out.
- Do you buy bench sweeps and lemel?
- Yes. We buy lemel, bench sweeps, filings, polishing dust and casting sprue, from one-person benches as well as larger shops. It is valued on recoverable content rather than piece by piece. Call ahead so someone is free when you arrive.
Areas served
Where our sellers come from
Our counter
Galt Ocean Mile
Our Fort Lauderdale counter is on this stretch of North Ocean Boulevard. For the oceanfront towers here it is a walk, and estate jewelry from these buildings is a large part of what crosses the counter.
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5 min
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Minutes north on A1A. A older, settled population means estate lots rather than one-off pieces — often a full box after a house is cleared.
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6 min
Coral Ridge
Six minutes south along Federal or Bayview. Many Coral Ridge sellers are downsizing rather than liquidating, which usually means sorted, well-kept pieces.
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9 min
Oakland Park
Straight west on Oakland Park Boulevard, and the easiest approach during season when A1A backs up.
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12 min
Wilton Manors
A short run inland. We see a lot of watch and designer-piece questions from here, where the brand often matters more than the metal.
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13 min
Downtown Fort Lauderdale
The Las Olas and downtown corridor. Convenient at lunchtime, and the reason we hold weekday hours rather than weekend-only.
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We also buy
Gold Jewelry
Chains, rings and odd earrings tested for karat at the counter, weighed in front of you, priced on the live market.
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Gold Coins & Bullion
Eagles, Maples, Krugerrands and refiner bars verified while you wait, with anything worth more than melt flagged first.
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Silver
Bars, rounds, junk coin and sterling flatware tested piece by piece, so a genuine set never leaves valued as plate.
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Get a number
Find out what it is actually worth.
Bring it in, or email a few photos first. Either way you get a real figure and no pressure to take it.
Bring valid government-issued photo ID. Florida law requires it for every purchase.