Sell scrap gold & broken jewellery in the UK.
Checked for value before melting.

What we buy

• Broken gold chains — snapped, tangled, or knotted chains in any carat. If a chain is intact but simply unwanted, a whole chain often sells for more than its melt weight; see our sell gold chains guide.
• Bent and damaged rings — crushed shanks, missing stones, cut-off rings and resized bands that were never repaired
• Broken and stretched bracelets — snapped links, failed clasps and hollow bracelets that have collapsed. Intact bracelets often sell for more than melt; see sell gold bracelets.
• Odd and single earrings — one earring from a pair, mismatched studs, earrings with a lost butterfly or bent post, any style or carat
• Damaged brooches — broken clasps, missing stones, bent pins
• Old gold dental work — crowns, bridges, and dental gold (typically 16ct equivalent)
• Watch cases — gold watch cases, bezels, and backs without movements
• Mixed bags of old jewellery — unsorted boxes, inherited bags, drawer clearances

Not all "scrap" is scrap

This is the single most important thing to understand before you sell broken jewellery: not everything that looks like scrap should be treated as scrap.

A high-street "we buy gold" shop puts your broken pieces on a scale, tests the carat, and offers a percentage of the melt value. That's the entire assessment. They do not check whether your broken brooch is a signed piece by a collectible maker. They do not notice that a bent ring is an Art Deco design with original old-cut diamonds. They do not recognise that a single earring from a Georg Jensen set has collector value many times its weight in gold.

At Fair Vintage, every item is checked by a specialist before any melt calculation is applied. If your piece has collector, antique, or designer value above its scrap weight, we tell you — and offer accordingly.

How gold is valued

The melt value of gold is determined by three factors: the weight of the piece, the purity (carat), and the current market price for gold. The formula is straightforward:

Weight (grams) × purity fraction × current gold spot price per gram = melt value

We weigh every item to 0.01g on calibrated scales and use the published LBMA daily gold fix as our reference price — you can verify it independently at lbma.org.uk. The purity is determined by hallmark reading or, for unhallmarked pieces, by non-invasive XRF testing. No acid tests. No filing. The method used is recorded in your written valuation.

Approximate gold rates per gram by carat

Indicative mid-2026 rates based on a gold spot price of approximately £68 per gram (fine gold). Actual rates fluctuate daily. Your written valuation uses the live price on the day of assessment.

Carat	Purity	Hallmark stamp	Approx. per gram
9ct	37.5%	375	~£25.50
14ct	58.5%	585	~£39.80
18ct	75.0%	750	~£51.00
22ct	91.6%	916	~£62.30

These are approximate buy rates for scrap gold with no collector premium. Pieces with antique, designer, or collector value will be offered above these rates. The difference can be substantial.

What we don't buy as scrap

• Gold-plated items — gold plate (GP, GEP, HGE) has a negligible gold wash with no recoverable gold content. We do not buy gold-plated items unless they have vintage or designer value in their own right.
• Gold-filled items — gold-filled (GF, 1/20) contains a bonded gold layer but very little recoverable gold. We assess gold-filled pieces separately and will tell you honestly if the gold content is minimal.
• Costume jewellery without gold content — base metal, brass, or plated costume pieces with no gold. If you're unsure, send it — we test everything and return non-gold items free of charge.

Not sure what you have? Send everything. We sort, test, and assess each piece. Items that aren't gold or have no material value are returned free — you won't be charged postage either way.

Reading the hallmark — how carat is confirmed

Most British gold made since 1950 carries a hallmark, and on scrap and broken pieces the hallmark is the fastest honest guide to what a piece is really made of. A full UK hallmark has up to four parts: the sponsor's (maker's) mark, the fineness (standard) mark — the three-digit number that matters most for value — the assay office mark (a leopard's head for London, an anchor for Birmingham, a rose for Sheffield, a castle for Edinburgh), and sometimes a date letter.

The fineness number tells you the carat directly: 375 is 9ct, 585 is 14ct, 750 is 18ct and 916 is 22ct. On a broken piece the stamp is often on the part that survived — the clasp tongue of a snapped chain, the inside of a bent shank, the post of a single earring — so we check every fragment, not just the largest one. Worn, part-struck or foreign marks (for example European "750" without a UK office mark, or American "14K") are confirmed by non-invasive XRF testing rather than taken on faith. Unmarked pieces are never assumed to be scrap-value only; they are tested and reported.

Stones and non-gold parts in broken jewellery

Broken jewellery is rarely pure gold. A damaged ring may hold a diamond or coloured stone; a brooch may have a steel pin; a watch case may retain a movement. We separate and account for these properly rather than melting everything as if it were solid gold.

• Diamonds and gemstones — stones are removed and weighed separately, and their value is assessed on their own merits. A certified or good-quality diamond is worth far more kept than lost in a melt. If you are selling mounted stones or loose stones, see sell diamonds; we handle the gold and the stones as two separate values on your written assessment.
• Stone weight is deducted — when a stone stays in a setting for melt, its weight is deducted so you are only paid for gold on gold, never charged for a stone's mass as if it were metal.
• Solder, springs and non-gold fittings — spring clasps, steel pins, base-metal ear posts and watch movements carry no gold value and are identified and set aside during assessment.
• Hollow and filled pieces — hollow chains, tube bangles and lightweight hoops contain less metal than their size suggests; we weigh the actual recoverable gold, not the apparent bulk.

Scrap value or resale value? How we decide

The single decision that changes what your broken jewellery is worth is whether a piece is treated as scrap (valued on metal weight and purity alone) or as resale (valued as an item someone will wear or collect). We apply a simple, consistent test to every piece before any melt figure is calculated:

• Is it repairable at sensible cost? A snapped clasp, a bent shank or a missing butterfly is often a modest repair against a piece worth many times its metal.
• Is there a maker, period or design worth keeping? A signed piece, an Art Deco or Victorian design, or an original setting can carry collector value well above weight.
• Are the stones worth more than the gold? Older jewellery frequently holds stones — including old-cut diamonds — worth more than the metal around them.

If a piece passes any of those tests we tell you the resale route and offer accordingly; if it genuinely is only worth its metal, we say so plainly and price it on the carat rates above. Either way you see the reasoning in writing. For gold in general — bullion, coins and wearable jewellery as well as scrap — see our main sell gold UK guide.

Four steps to your scrap gold valuation