Silver Scrap Value main factors
Silver scrap refers to any item or material containing silver that has outlived its primary purpose and is no longer in use. This can include old jewelry, coins, flatware, industrial components, and more. Unlike gold, which rarely tarnishes or corrodes, silver can tarnish over time, making it more susceptible to losing its shine and luster. As a result, people may choose to sell or recycle their silver scrap items to harness their residual value
The value of silver scrap is determined by various factors such as:
Purity: Silver scrap items come in various purities, typically measured in fineness. Sterling silver, for example, is often 92.5% pure (925 parts silver out of 1,000). Higher purity silver, such as 99.9% pure silver (often referred to as “fine silver”) typically in Silver bullions
Silver “800” which is 800/1000 ( 80%), as some of the item are silverware and Judica they may contain some brazing alloy which lower the Silver content in the scrap.
Siver scrap can be found in many industrial applications such as batteries, wires, electrical contacts, electronic components and more.
Bottom line is the silver percentage in the scrap (as a preliminary process( if possible) best is to cast the scrap into an homogenous scrap and then sample it)
Weight: net silver weight is the silver content multiplied by the gross silver scrap weight
And that is the base for the value calculation.
Impurities : For most “regular” silver scrap like coins silverware the Silver is alloyed with copper so no problem , but in case there are some hazardous material or elements that made the refining process more complicated it can reduce the return (price paid per gram of scrap). On the other hand, clean homogenous scrap can be reuse as row material for new products without refining and the return can be much higher.
Current Market Prices: Like all commodities, the value of silver fluctuates based on supply and demand, geopolitical factors, and economic conditions. Keeping an eye on the daily spot price of silver is crucial to assess the current market value of your scrap.
Silver fixing price is published ounce a day in the London metals exchange ( LME).
Silver content: Refining process and costs are different if silver content is 90% or 5%,
As purity goes down the refining costs goes up.
Value Calculation:
Silver scrap gross weight (gram)* Silver content (%)*dealer/refiner return (%)*silver price (usd/gram)
As a rule of thumb refiner will pay 90-95% of market price and dealers will pay 85-92% of market price (for high silver content without any problematic elements such as Chrom, Tin , lead and more).
For quick calculation use the following calculator
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