The market price for Gold, Silver, Platinum and other precious metals is established within the commodities market. Generally speaking, when the economy is bad, precious metal prices go up and visa versa. Supply and demand also plays its role. Prices change by the hour, day, week and month. Right now, Gold, for example, is higher than it’s been in decades. There may be some ups and downs over the short term, but over the long term, the prices are way up as shown in the chart below:

The chart above shows the steady increase in the price of gold during the past five years. In September, 2003 that price was $368.79/Ounce. In March of this year, it reached a high of $1,002.88/Ounce. Right now, Gold is at $763.70/Ounce.

When we buy gold the value of your material is based on the spot price given on the day of your payment. There are other considerations too, and that’s why we have to assay each item you send us. Gold jewelry is generally engraved with a Karat mark—24K, 18K, 10K. This figure denotes the percentage of pure gold in your item. This gives us the actual gold weight in each piece and allows us to calculate just what the gold content is worth. We then add 10% and write your check or send the money electronically to you, whichever you prefer.

The same method applies to Silver, Platinum or other precious metals.