Many things come to mind when thinking about precious metals: jewelry, mining, currency, investments, and an often-romanticized favorite: treasure. Some treasures have been lost for hundreds of years. Others are lost every day – most commonly on the beach.

Millions of people visit beaches every year, and it’s very easy to lose your valuables if you’re not careful. Swimming in a rough ocean with sunscreen covered hands is a notoriously easy way to lose rings, bracelets, or even watches. Back on the beach, a little wind on the swirling sand can make dropped coins or jewelry vanish quickly.

Enter modern-day treasure hunters or beachcombers. Beachcombers will often take into account several factors before embarking on a treasure hunt. For example, summer is considered to be a good season because beaches get crowded with more people losing more things. However, searching just after a round of winter storms is also good because the wind and rain have moved most of the sand, making treasure easier to find. But, beachcombing is not all glitz and glamour. Metal detectors will give readings for more than just precious metals. Calibrating a detector to reject readings for bits of iron or other metal without causing it to skip over gold rings can be tricky. In many cases, a beachcomber might be finding more trash than treasure.

It can be a bit of a gamble to purchase a metal detector and start beachcombing. It’s not something you should quit your day job for. But, it is a fun hobby that gets you outdoors, and if you’re lucky, you might find a gold ring or two.

People often wonder how to judge or evaluate the value of their scrap metals. What matters is purity and weight. Manhattan Gold & Silver utilizes two main means of judging a lot’s worth – hand testing or melting and then fire assaying a sample. But there are other factors that can influence value in separate markets.

When it comes to coins, for example, there is a difference between “collector” and “scrap” value. For instance, most silver coins with common dates have no value to coin collectors, but do have value from a metal purity standpoint. On the other hand, some coins are rare or unique special date coins, and they do indeed have a greater value than the content of the precious metal making up the coin. In a typical precious metal refining arrangement all coins are equal based on their purity and weight; but to a collector a “less valuable” coin from a precious metal perspective, may indeed be more valuable, due to its rarity.

In addition, it’s important to keep in mind that precious metals are commodities, and their prices can fluctuate greatly from day to day, so the value of your scrap can also vary from day to day, and the price you are quoted on Tuesday, may not be the same price you will get if you decide to wait until Friday to sell. We base our prices on the daily London Fix and pay out up to 99% of a lot’s value.

Finally, when you’re evaluating the best options for your lot, be sure that you understand how your precious metals stack up in terms of purity. Gold and silver are oftentimes combined with other more durable metals to make them stronger. Gold is measured in Karats (K) and the higher the Karat (up to 24K which is considered pure gold), the greater the value. Similarly, silver is usually either 40%, 80% or 90% silver. If you understand what it is that you have, you will be able to make the right recycling decision to suit your needs. Check out our gold and silver historical price charts to learn more about how values fluctuate over time.

Alluvial is a term that refers to soil sediments and the various sand, silt, gravel, clay or other deposited matter left behind by flowing water. "Alluvial gold" refers to the type of gold dust found in that kind of soil. When the beds of rivers or streams are scooped and panned for gold dust, the product is referred to as alluvial gold.

Panning for gold is one of the oldest ways to produce gold. There are recorded instances of mining such deposits in ancient Rome, where gold and other precious metals were extracted from streams and mountainsides using panning devices known as sluices.

It's a simple process, to be sure. The would-be miner simply scoops up an amount of sediment in a flat, shallow pan-like device. The device is agitated in water (which is why panning in rivers and streams is so convenient), allowing less weighty materials to spill out of the pan. If there is a concentration of gold or gemstones in the sediment, those sink to the bottom and are examined and collected by the panner.

Manhattan Gold & Silver doesn't handle alluvial gold. We're a B2B company that specializes in refining scrap precious metals and returning the value of the scrap to our customers who bring them in for service. We think gold panning is a fascinating way to acquire gold, but we're better equipped to service the dentists, jewelers, pawnbrokers, and other various businesses that use gold and other precious metals in the course of their business.

We're ready to do our best for your business when you're ready to recycle your precious metals. If you've got scrap gold, we'll help you turn it back into an asset your business can use.