Broken Gold
Also: Scrap gold, Melt gold, Old gold
Broken gold refers to damaged, deformed or incomplete gold items that no longer serve as jewellery or usable objects and are destined chiefly for the melting pot.
Broken gold is the umbrella term for gold objects that have lost their original purpose — snapped chains, bent rings, single earrings, damaged bracelets or discarded dental crowns. What matters is not the appearance but the gold content: every piece of broken gold carries its fineness in the form of an alloy that, once melted and refined, can be turned back into fine gold or a fresh alloy. The prevailing gold price directly sets the sum you can expect to receive.
What qualifies as broken gold?
Not every defective gold item is broken gold in the economic sense. Collector pieces, rare coins or objects with historical significance should be appraised by a specialist before they end up in the crucible. Items typically treated as broken gold include:
- Damaged or dated gold jewellery with no collector value (rings, chains, pendants, brooches)
- Dental gold (crowns, bridges, inlays) made from dental alloys, usually 585–750 fineness
- Loose parts and fragments — snapped clasps, jump rings, stray granules
- Raw gold and nuggets from private sources
- Gold-plated objects with a sufficiently thick coating (rarely worthwhile)
Determining fineness — reading the hallmark
The fineness of a gold piece is stamped into its hallmark. The following stamps are common across Ireland and Europe:
| Stamp | Carat | Fineness | Gold share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 999 | 24 ct | 99.9 % | almost pure gold |
| 750 | 18 ct | 75.0 % | 3/4 gold |
| 585 | 14 ct | 58.5 % | a little over half |
| 375 | 9 ct | 37.5 % | just under 2/5 |
| 333 | 8 ct | 33.3 % | 1/3 gold |
Where a hallmark is missing — as with very old pieces or jewellery made abroad — the fineness can be established through a streak test, an acid test or X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). Reputable buyers carry out this analysis free of charge.
Working out the melt value
The melt value (also called the material or intrinsic value) is the theoretical floor of a broken-gold price — namely what the contained fine gold would fetch on the spot market. The calculation is straightforward:
Melt value = gross weight (g) × fineness × current gold price (€/g)
Example: 10 g ring, 585 gold, gold price €85/g
→ 10 × 0.585 × 85 = €497.25
The melt value calculator works this figure out to the second based on the live market price. The result gives you a solid basis for negotiating with buyers.
Buy-back — what dealers pay
No buyer pays the full melt value: melting, refining, assaying and margin are all deducted. The so-called buy-back factor states what percentage of the melt value the buyer hands over. Typical market ranges:
| Type of buyer | Buy-back factor (typical) |
|---|---|
| Specialist online buyer | 90 – 97 % |
| Local gold buyer / jeweller | 75 – 92 % |
| Pawnbroker | 50 – 75 % |
| Refinery (direct, from ~50 g) | 95 – 99 % |
The buying price calculator lets you check whether a specific offer is fair. For larger quantities it pays to go straight to a refinery, which melts the broken gold, assays it and settles based on the actual fineness recovered.
Dental gold as a special case
Dental gold often contains palladium, platinum or silver alongside gold. Dental alloys are not standardised — the gold content can swing between 40 and 90 %. Without an XRF analysis its value can hardly be estimated reliably. The dental gold calculator gives a rough guide once the approximate gold share is known.
Tax notes for Ireland
In Ireland the sale of privately held bullion or scrap gold at a profit falls under Capital Gains Tax at 33 %. Each individual has an annual personal exemption of €1,270; gains below that threshold are not taxable. Unlike Germany, where a one-year holding period under Paragraph 23 EStG can make a sale tax-free, Ireland grants no holding-period relief — the length of ownership does not change the CGT liability. This is not tax advice — please consult a qualified adviser where anything is unclear.
For cash transactions of €10,000 or more, dealers are subject to anti-money-laundering obligations under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 and must record identity details.
Sustainability: recycling instead of fresh mining
Broken gold is a key building block of global gold recycling. According to the World Gold Council, roughly 25–30 % of the gold available each year comes from secondary sources — including jewellery, electronics and dental gold. Melting down old gold consumes only a fraction of the energy required to mine ore, and it avoids the use of chemicals such as cyanide. Selling broken gold therefore feeds directly into the circular economy.
In brief
Broken gold no longer has aesthetic value, but it carries a clearly measurable material value. Read the hallmark, calculate the melt value, compare offers — anyone who masters these three steps secures a fair price. The melt value calculator and the buying price calculator provide the groundwork.