When you bring gold, silver, jewelry, coins or bullion to our Gainesville shop, the process follows four stages. Each stage produces a fact the next one depends on — which is what separates a measured evaluation from a number said out loud.

Stage one: bring it in

Come to the counter with whatever you have — jewelry, coins, bars, or a drawer of unsorted odds and ends. Nothing needs cleaning, repairing, sorting or pre-valuing, and there is no minimum worth bringing. Broken chains, single earrings and pieces with the stones still in them are all perfectly normal things to have assessed. If you are unsure whether something is even gold or silver, that question is part of the service, not a prerequisite for it.

The one preparation genuinely worth doing is understanding the units before you arrive. Precious metals are weighed in troy ounces — 31.1035 grams, about ten per cent heavier than the everyday ounce — and purity is stated in karats or parts per thousand. Both are explained plainly in our purity and weight guide, and knowing them is the difference between following a valuation and merely hearing one.

Stage two: weighed in front of you

Every item is examined and weighed at the counter while you watch. Nothing is taken to a back room, and the scale stays where you can see it — the weight is read out as it is taken, from the display you are looking at. This is not a courtesy; it is the whole basis of trust in a trade where the product is measured rather than described.

Examination means more than the scale. Hallmarks are read under magnification, and where a mark is worn, missing, or looks wrong, the metal is tested rather than assumed. Items that mix materials — a gold ring with stones, a bracelet with a steel spring clasp — are assessed for their actual recoverable metal, with the non-gold components allowed for openly rather than silently weighed in your favour or against it.

Stage three: an offer against the market

We explain the assessed metal weight, purity, market reference, and buying rate used to calculate your offer, including any deductions.

This is also where the two-reading rule for coins applies: if a coin is worth more as a coin than as metal — a rare date, a low mintage, an unusual strike — that is said plainly, rather than pricing a collectible as scrap. The same honesty runs the other way: we identify plated, gold-filled, and rolled-gold items, which we do not purchase.

Stage four: accept, or take it home

If you accept the offer, we explain and complete the required transaction steps and confirm how payment will be made. If you decline, you keep your items.

You are welcome to ask questions and take time to consider the offer. There is no obligation to sell.

Why the order matters

Each stage exists to protect the one after it. Weighing in front of you makes the weight a shared fact rather than a claim. Establishing fineness before any money is discussed means the offer is built on measurements you witnessed. And putting the decision last — after every number is on the table — means you are never asked to commit to a figure you have not seen constructed. Any process that runs these stages in a different order is asking for trust it has not yet earned.

The questions this page cannot answer

Fees, appointment arrangements, payment methods, identification requirements and timing are commitments only the business can make, and this site does not state them until they are confirmed — a policy that applies to every fact on every page. What has been confirmed is always current on the contact page, and the FAQ covers the general questions in plain language.