Why sell gold at De Goudwaag?

The price of gold depends on many factors. Of course, the basic rule applies that the price is determined by supply and demand: more demand and the price goes up, more supply and the price goes down. But how does demand arise? Demand is created by large investors and countries taking gold as part of their investment portfolio. Many large investment houses have a certain amount of gold in their portfolios because gold holds a certain stability. Shares can be worth nothing overnight and money can have high inflation, but gold roughly retains its value. That does not mean the gold price cannot fluctuate at all. That was seen in April 2013, when the gold price suddenly plunged by 20%. What was the reason? In our opinion, mostly psychology: There were stories that Cyprus would sell its gold and flood the market with it, there were reports that the Chinese would buy less gold because their economic growth was slowing down, and so panic soon sets in.

The exact gold price can therefore never be predicted. We therefore never venture to answer questions like, "Is the gold price going to rise?". Someone who would know exactly what the gold price is going to do in the coming time could become wealthy, and we are still not....

The gold price on the world market is easy for anyone to follow, e.g. here. This is the price big investors pay for "paper" gold on the stock market. As soon as real physical gold comes into play, there is already a difference between the price paid to people who sell it and the price people have to pay if they want to buy it. At the largest gold smelter in the Netherlands, there is 1,000 euros per kilo difference between those prices for fine gold. For worked gold (i.e. old jewellery, etc.), smelters pay a lot less still, because they first have to remelt it into bars of fine gold, which costs a lot of money.

Therefore, when De Goudwaag resells the gold it purchases to a smelter, we already get paid a lot less than the world market price. In addition, we incur analysis costs that are charged to us by the smelter to see how much pure gold is in the jewellery we supply. And, of course, the smelter wants to earn something itself. Furthermore, we have to hedge against price risks: We buy the gold from you today, and resell it only a few days later, when we have collected a larger quantity. If in that meantime the gold price plunges, as it did at the end of April 2013 by almost 20%, for instance, that loss is our responsibility. After all, we also have to pay our rent, gas water light, advertising costs, etc. and, of course, make a living.

This means that with us, you are paid the world market price minus a fair percentage. That percentage depends, among other things, on the quantity of gold you sell to us. For example, we pay analysis costs only once, whether it is for a batch of 1 gram or for 1,000 grams of gold. Therefore: the more gold you bring in, the lower the percentage we charge. We think this is fair and logical, and understandable for everyone. Hence our motto "Honest about your gold".

Many people surf the internet and then start calling or emailing various gold buyers to get a quote per gram 14 carats, etc. They are told all kinds of prices, from high to low. From the experience of many customers we have had, we know that the prices promised on the phone or on the internet almost never end up being paid when you get there in the shop. There are many excuses for "the rate has just dropped", "that price only applies above one kilo", etc. There are also unfortunately many cases where a lower number of grams is deliberately quoted or people are told a lower carat number than the jewellery actually contains.

The Goudwaag does not want to participate in this kind of practice. We are honest and open and do not want to lure you to the shop with prices you will not get. Because we are serious, we can only give a real price once we have seen the items and the quantity. We act transparently and, when you visit us, we will tell you exactly how much you will receive and how much we will earn. We are not ashamed of this, because everyone understands that we also have our costs and have to earn a living. Fortunately, many inhabitants of The Hague and its surroundings hold "live and let live" in high esteem. That's why we don't offer bait-and-switch, but an honest and transparent story when you visit us. You are welcome to come in for a free valuation.

Each item is first determined how many carats it is, i.e. it is determined what percentage of pure gold it contains. It is then weighed and it can be calculated how many grams of pure gold you are handing in. Based on the daily rate, the price we can offer you is then calculated. You can rest assured that you will receive an honest and fair offer from us.

De Goudwaag is here to buy really anything gold or silver. You can think of anything or we will buy it. People are often surprised at the high price they get for gold or silver that they themselves thought was hardly worth anything. Among other things, you can come to us to buy the following types of gold or silver:

• Old gold or silver jewellery, whole or broken
• Gold or silver coins
• Gold bars or silver bars
• Gold teeth, gold teeth or crowns
• Scrap gold

In the Netherlands, gold is required to have a stamp showing how many carats it is. We first look at the stamp and then see immediately with our experienced eye whether it is real gold or fake gold. In case of doubt, we can always test with a chemical method. This method is known as "testing" gold or silver. For this, nitric acid (also known as royal water) and a so-called touchstone are used. The touchstone is black in colour and made of the material lydite.

Testing involves rubbing the gold object over the stone, leaving an ultra-thin layer of gold on the stone. By applying the nitric acid in different degrees and seeing at which degree the gold dissolves, the percentage of pure gold, or the amount of carat, can be determined. Turkish gold, Moroccan gold, Indonesian gold and gold from other countries often do not have a stamp with the carat on it. Here, the same method can be used to determine the amount of pure gold.

De Goudwaag wants to be honest and transparent. That is why you can take a look at our calibrated scales and we are happy to explain in detail how we arrive at our offer. We always want to offer you the best gold or silver price. Of course, we are open about the fact that we also have to cover our own costs and want to earn something from buying gold. Rest assured that our margins are reasonable and will stand up to comparison with other gold buyers. Already received an offer for your gold or silver elsewhere? Visit us and we will see if we can make you an even better offer.

Gold in pure form is too soft to use as jewellery, for example. It would quickly bend or break. Therefore, gold is always mixed with other metals such as silver, copper and/or nickel to make it harder. This is called an alloy.

Carat means nothing more than the percentage of pure gold a particular item contains. In the Netherlands, the most common carats are 14 and 18. If a piece of jewellery is 14 carats, it means it contains 58.5% of pure gold. The rest consists of other metals. For 18 carats, the percentage of pure gold is 75%.

Other carats are also used abroad. Zou Turkish gold, Moroccan gold or Indonesian gold is sometimes as high as 20 or 22 carats, meaning it sometimes contains more than 90% of pure gold. On the other hand, there is also foreign gold that is only 8 or 10 carats, meaning it contains only a low percentage of pure gold.

At De Goudwaag, all carats are welcome. Through a special testing process, we determine how many carats an item is, so we know how much pure gold it contains. On that basis, we then offer you the highest price for your gold.

For silver, a similar story applies, only here it is not carat, but "content". The lowest percentage of silver can be found in some types of cutlery. This sometimes contains only 10% of silver. Most silver jewellery has a content of 925, which means its 92.5% of pure silver. De Goudwaag buys all types of silver, regardless of the carat. Just be aware that silver is worth much less than gold. The value of gold is more than 50 times higher than the value of silver.

Sure, you can also come to De Goudwaag for broken jewellery and scrap gold. Gold is gold, whether it looks nice or not. Because we have the gold remelted after purchase, appearance is not important. We give the same high price for broken gold as for a shiny piece of jewellery. Many people are positively surprised when they bring us broken gold or scrap gold, because they get much more for it than they expected.

The value of gold teeth and crowns is high. They always contain at least 50% of pure gold, so are almost always at least 14 carats. So despite the not-so-pretty appearance, you get a lot of money for your gold teeth and gold crowns. You won't be the first customer to leave our shop happily surprised at the high price you get for gold teeth.

For dentists who have larger quantities of gold teeth, molars or crowns, we charge an extra competitive rate.

On many websites on the internet, the gold price can be followed from minute to minute. The price of gold is expressed in dollars per ounce or in euros per kilogram. The current rates can be found at here.

The values you find on the internet are the so-called speculative prices, i.e. the price for pure gold or silver in large quantities. The price for buying small quantities of old gold or old silver is naturally below this, firstly because there is still a separation and smelting process to be involved to extract the pure gold from the old jewellery, and simply because the quantities are too small. You can compare this to the difference between wholesale prices and retail prices of other products.

Therefore, you will not get the speculative gold price you find on the internet from a gold buyer anywhere. Some gold buyers do advertise this price. We find this misleading and therefore do not do so. We do not want to stunt with a high, unrealistic gold price that, in reality, you do not get at all. Our motto is "honest about gold", which is why we tell you exactly what we will pay you based on the current daily price of gold or silver. We are also open about the fact that we have to earn something ourselves to offer this service. After all, the rent and other costs have to be paid and we also want to make a living out of it.

Are you offered a high price for your gold elsewhere after serious weighing and scrutiny? Then come to us and we will see if we can offer you an even higher amount for your gold.

The gold and silver we buy from you we save until we have a large quantity, for example at least one kilo. We then have it melted down into gold bars or silver bars. Because of the larger quantity, we can sell these gold bars for a higher price than we pay our customers. From the difference, we pay our costs and earn a living.

Buying silver is just as important to us as buying gold. You can therefore sell all types of silver to us, from silver cutlery to silver dishes and other silver utensils. So even for the purchase of silver cutlery, De Goudwaag is your trusted address.

Many people have silver cutlery in the cupboard and haven't done anything with it for years. Some do not like the taste of food with silver cutlery, others find it too much trouble to have to clean it every time. All reasons to decide to sell the silver cutlery. The silver price is still high, so still now is a favourable time to get rid of your cutlery. The same goes for other types of silverware such as silver bowls or other silver objects. A valuation is always free at De Goudwaag, the address for silver cutlery sales The Hague.

Silver-plated cutlery is cutlery that has only a small layer of silver on it. This does not have too high a value because the amount of silver per cutlery piece is small. But if the quantity is large, selling silver-plated cutlery can still yield an interesting amount. De Goudwaag collects the silver-plated cutlery and cooperates with a number of sister companies in Germany to achieve a large quantity, so that several hundred kilos can be melted down at once. This makes De Goudwaag one of the few addresses for silver-plated cutlery sales in The Hague. So come to De Goudwaag with your silver-plated cutlery and receive a fair price.

The answer to this question is: yes, De Goudwaag is also here for tin procurement in The Hague. Tin is a metal widely used for making ornamental objects such as bowls, cups, pitchers and ornamental cutlery. It was fashionable for a while, but is now no longer liked by many people and many people want to sell their pewter cups. For purchasing pewter plates, cups, bowls and cutlery, De Goudwaag now offers the opportunity to do just that. Tin is never as valuable as gold and silver, but if you have a few kilos, it can still pay off to sell your pewter. So: For tin sales The Hague, come to De Goudwaag.

De Goudwaag is run by a diplomatic family, husband diplomat, wife owner of the Goudwaag. When the family returned to The Hague in early 2011 from a seven-year stay abroad, the owner was keen to pursue an interesting trade, and moreover something she is good at. Then the choice of buying gold was quickly made. This is clearly a case of "making your hobby your job".