Precious Metals Scrap Prices Today
2 precious metals grades tracked. National averages updated daily.
About Precious Metals
What sits in the Precious Metals category is broken jewelry, sterling flatware, dental gold, and worn coins, priced on the metal content after refining. Yards check for karat stamps for gold and sterling marks for silver to set the per-gram rate. Yards send sorted material to precious-metal refiners and bullion producers for recovery and refining. Sellers should keep the scrap-versus-bullion distinction in mind: scrap pricing covers recovered metal value only, while investment-grade bullion and collectible coins typically sell for a premium through specialty channels. Common sellers in this category include estate handlers, jewelry resellers clearing damaged inventory, and households cleaning out drawer-stash silverware or broken chains.
Precious Metals Grades
| Grade | Current Price | Unit | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver (.999) | $53.07 | /oz | Nov 10, 2026 |
| Gold (.999) | $4116.74 | /oz | Nov 10, 2026 |
What drives the Precious Metals market
What drives Precious Metals yard rates is the daily spot benchmark for gold and silver, with a refining-cost discount built in. Demand from precious-metal refiners and bullion producers keeps recovery active even when consumer jewelry turnover is slow. An important point for sellers: scrap yard rates are the melt value, not the bullion or coin-collector price. Investment-grade rounds and graded coins should be sold through bullion dealers or numismatic markets, where they can fetch a premium over melt. A quick call ahead saves a wasted trip — per-gram rates in Precious Metals can move with the spot market hour by hour.
How Precious Metals grades compare
Within the Precious Metals category, gold and silver price separately based on their respective spot benchmarks and purity. Gold scrap is graded by karat — the karat stamp shows the percentage of pure gold in the alloy. Twenty-four karat is pure; lower karats pay a proportional fraction of the spot rate. Silver pricing tracks the spot benchmark, with sterling paying a per-gram rate scaled by the silver percentage after a refining discount. Pure silver bars and rounds pay slightly closer to spot. Pre-sorting by metal and purity is welcome — it speeds up the weigh-in and gives the yard a clearer view of what's in the load.
Precious Metals Prices by State
Frequently asked about Precious Metals
- What about dental gold?
- Dental gold (crowns, bridges, gold-alloy fillings) is typically a mixed alloy with gold content varying by piece. Yards and refiners that handle precious metals will price it based on assayed gold percentage rather than a flat per-gram rate.
- How is gold purity measured?
- Gold purity is measured in karats. Twenty-four karat is pure gold; eighteen karat is seventy-five percent gold; fourteen karat is roughly fifty-eight percent; ten karat is a bit over forty-one percent. The karat stamp on the piece is what yards use to set the per-gram rate.
- Do scrap yards even buy gold?
- Some yards buy gold and silver, but many refer sellers to specialty refiners or jewelry-buyers because the per-gram precision and refining contracts differ from commodity-metal handling. The yard search filters by accepted material, so you can see who in your area handles Precious Metals.
- How is sterling silver priced versus fine silver?
- Sterling silver carries a fineness mark indicating it is roughly ninety-two and a half percent silver, so it pays a corresponding fraction of the per-gram spot rate. Fine silver pays a slightly higher per-gram rate because it requires less refining work to recover the metal.
- Should I bring my old jewelry to a scrap yard?
- Broken jewelry and pieces with no resale value can be sold for melt at yards or specialty buyers. Intact pieces with brand value, antique pieces, and signed designer work usually fetch much higher prices at jewelry resellers or auction than at melt rates.
- Do I need an appraisal before selling scrap precious metals?
- For routine scrap quantities (broken chains, sterling flatware), the yard's per-gram rate is the standard. For larger pieces, antiques, or anything where the form might carry value beyond melt, getting a second opinion from a jeweler or appraiser before scrapping is worth the time.
- How much is precious metals per pound at a scrap yard today?
- As of Nov 10, 2026, the US national average is $4116.74/oz for Gold (.999) and $53.07/oz for Silver (.999). Yards quote around these figures depending on grade, cleanliness and volume, so call two or three with your weight for a firm price.
- Which precious metals grade pays the most?
- Gold (.999) pays the most at $4116.74/oz; Silver (.999) is the lowest at $53.07/oz. Sorting by grade before you arrive is the biggest lever on your payout, because a mixed load is paid at the lowest grade in the pile.