Glossary
Scheideanstalt (precious metal refinery)
A Scheideanstalt is a refinery that separates precious metals from old gold and alloys to recover pure material.
At a Scheideanstalt, purchased old gold is melted and separated chemically or electrolytically until pure gold, silver, platinum and palladium are recovered. The fine gold then becomes bars, granules or semi-finished products for jewellery and industry.
The two classic methods are aqua regia, in which gold is dissolved in an acid mixture and precipitated again, and the Wohlwill electrolysis process, which can achieve 999.9 fineness. Both involve considerable work, one reason the jewellery buying rate is lower than the bar rate.
Recycled precious metal meets a significant share of global demand. Every gram returned from a drawer to circulation replaces newly mined material. For sellers, this means that even broken and mixed items retain their full material value.
Why jewellery has a lower buying rate
A 100 gram lot of 585 contains 58.5 grams of fine gold. At 120,00 € per gram, that gives a material value of 7.020,00 €. The payout is 90 to 95 %, giving 6.318,00 to 6.669,00 €.
A bar containing the same 58.5 grams of fine gold brings 6.809,40 €, because it does not need refining. The difference reflects the real cost of transporting, analysing and separating alloyed material, rather than an extra dealer markup.
From Nordhorn to the refinery
Items we buy in Nordhorn are sorted by material group, weighed, documented and then sent together to a refinery. This intermediate buying stage is why you receive cash immediately without waiting for a melt settlement.
Pieces with collector value take a different route. Before anything is melted, we check whether it is worth more as a complete item. If we identify such value, we tell you rather than quietly paying only the material price.