General Information

General Information

Northeast Precious Metals

How It Works


As the area's highest payer for all your gold and other precious metals, we meticulously inspect every piece of gold, silver, platinum, etc., that comes through our doors to ensure our customers get paid appropriately for all their valuables. When someone comes in with gold or silver, we first determine whether it's 8k, 10k, 14k, 18k, 22k, sterling, etc., and from there, we make an offer based on the market price at the time and the weight of the items.


There is no obligation to sell once we appraise your gold or silver, and we don't play any games with our pricing. You will be given our best price the first time and every time for all your gold, silver, jewelry, or any other materials. Dealers and buyers of precious metals are welcome, and please feel free to call us anytime for our pricing and operating procedures.

We purchase all silver scraps regardless of quantity or condition. We handle and refine industrial silver scrap from all applications, such as x-ray films, dental scrap, filters, plating solutions, and any other materials containing silver. Some silver materials we typically purchase from the public include:

  • Silver jewelry
  • Silver hollowware
  • Silver sets
  • Silver bars
  • Silver coins
  • Silver/cad contacts
  • and more


We will purchase all silver-plated materials for their base metals, such as copper, brass, or die-cast.


**If you are bringing in knives, holloware, candelabras, or any other materials containing resin, please remove them beforehand. It saves us and our customers time, as the material must be removed before the silver can be weighed**

General Silver Information

Unless a piece is marked as sterling or .925, chances are it is not solid silver.


Different markings on common silver items:

Sterling - 92.5%

99.9% Pure Silver - 999 Fine

95% Pure Silver - 950/1000

80% Pure Silver - 800/1000 or .800


Different markings on common plated items with no significant silver value:

Nickel Silver - IS International Silver

German Silver - Rogers Brothers

Nevada Silver - Guaranteed 12 DWT

Brazil Silver A1 - single plated

Peru Silver AA - double plated

Western Silver XXXX or Quad - quadruple plated

At Northeast Precious Metals, we bring over 60 years of combined experience in buying gold from both private and public sources. Our customer satisfaction speaks for itself and customer satisfaction will always remain our top priority.


All lot sizes are accepted, no minimum amounts are necessary and no lot is too big. Immediate payment for your gold and valuables has always been our mode of operation. We consistently pay the highest for your gold and we will continue to regardless of where the price of gold ends up. At the time of every transaction, we use up-to-date pricing supplied by either the Bullion Desk or Kitco. typical materials we purchase are items such as broken/unwanted gold jewelry, dental gold, gold coins, gold bullion, and gold filled.

Karat Fineness
8 .3333
9 .3750
10 .4167
12 .5000
14 .5833
15 .6250
16 .6667
18 .7500
20 .8333
22 .9167
24 1.0000

General Gold Information

In general, copper is added to gold for red shades and palladium is added to gold for a white color. In China, purple gold existed which contained a little iron that would become violet when heated. Craftsmen can create individual shades by mixing the proportions of the alloys.


The amount of gold in an article of jewelry is defined by the "carat" or "karat" scale. The word is derived from the Greek keration and Italian carato meaning the fruit of the carob tree whose pods were once used for weights in early bazaars. Pure gold is 24 carats; other alloys have a percentage of 24. Divide the marked karat by 24 to get the % of fineness.

10 karat gold / 24 karat gold = 41.6% pure gold.


A pile of brass wire is sitting on a wooden table.
A close up of a pile of gold jewelry on a table.

Gold Filled

For our customers looking to get the most out of their gold-filled materials, we recommend accumulating about 10 pounds or more and doing a full refinement. This way you're guaranteed to get the total gold content in your material without any guesswork. We do purchase the material outright, but if you can accumulate the volume we always recommend doing the full refinement.


We've seen lots run all the way from $100 a pound up to $400 a pound. Obviously, factors such as the current price of gold and the type of gold filled (i.e. 1/10, 1/20, 12k, 14k, 18k) will affect the total value. Objects such as eyeglass frames, pocket watch cases, earrings, and costume jewelry are great items for gold refinement.

Conversions Used For Gold & Silver

Troy Conversions

24 grain (gr) = 1 pennyweight (dwt)

20 pennyweight (dwt) = 1 troy ounce (troz)

14.583 troy ounce (troz) = 1 pound (lb)

1 pennyweight (dwt) = 1.555 grams (g)

English Conversions

1 avoirdupois ounce = 28.3500 grams 

1 avoirdupois pound = 453.6 grams

1 avoirdupois pound = 16 ounces

1 avoirdupois pound = 14.583 ounces troy

Conversion Factors

1 avoirdupois pound weighs 14.583 ounces troy

1 gram weighs 0.03527 ounces avoirdupois

1 ounce avoirdupois weighs 28.3495 grams

1 gram weighs 0.03215 ounces troy

1 ounce troy weighs 31.10348 grams

1 gram weighs 15.4324 grains

1 grain weighs 0.0648 grams

1 kilogram weighs 32.15074 ounces troy

1 kilogram weighs 2.20462 pounds avoirdupois

Useful Conversions

Grains to Grams multiply by 0.0648

Grams to Grains multiply by 15.4324

Pennyweights to Grams multiply by 1.5552

Grams to Dwt. multiply by 0.6430

Oz troy to Grams multiply by 31.1035

Grams to Oz. troy multiply by 0.03215

Oz. troy to Oz. avoir multiply by 1.0971

Oz. avoir to Oz. troy multiply by 0.9115

Oz. avoir to Grams multiply by 28.3500

Grams to Oz. avoir multiply by 0.03527

Lb. avoir to Kilogram multiply by 0.4536

Kilogram to Lb. avoir multiply by 2.2046

Lb. avoir to Grains multiply by 7000.00

Grains to Lb. avoir multiply by 0.000143

Share by: