Why dental gold carries no hallmark
You will find no fineness number or assay mark on a crown, and that is correct — dental alloys are not subject to hallmarking. They are made to function in the mouth, not to be sold as jewellery, and their composition follows medical-device standards rather than jewellery rules.
In practice this means dental gold skips the step a valuation normally begins with. There is nothing to read; everything has to be measured. Which is why measurement gets more attention here than on ordinary jewellery.
What is actually in a crown
Dental alloys are not pure gold — it would deform in the mouth. Gold is combined with metals that add hardness and corrosion resistance. Purity most often falls between 585 (14k) and 750 (18k), and higher on older work.
The distinctive thing about dental alloys is that alongside gold they frequently contain platinum and palladium, further precious metals with value of their own. This is precisely why the price cannot be guessed from appearance — two similar-looking crowns can differ considerably in composition. The opposite occurs too: so-called „white" crowns are often chrome-cobalt alloy or titanium, containing no precious metal at all.
Leave the ceramic and tooth residue alone
This is the most common question and the answer is simple: leave everything as it is. We buy crowns and bridges with ceramic, solder and tooth tissue still attached. Non-metal parts do not count towards the weight and are separated during processing.
Above all, do not try to remove the ceramic yourself. Breaking it off with pliers means losing the metal embedded beneath it, and you can injure yourself — ceramic shards are sharp. The saving in time and money is precisely nil.
What you get for dental gold
The price follows the purity of the alloy, the weight and the current market price of gold. Indicatively, dental gold sits between 14k and 18k, so roughly 1,250–1,990 CZK per gram of pure gold content. Alloys with a higher platinum or palladium content can work out more favourably.
For a sense of scale: a gold crown typically weighs one to three grams, a bridge spanning several teeth proportionally more. A bag accumulated over decades in a family is therefore not necessarily trivial. How a market price becomes a specific offer is described in How the gold buying price is calculated.
How the measurement works
We determine purity with a non-contact tester; on mixed alloys, and where a higher proportion of platinum-group metals is suspected, we measure more thoroughly, because a simple quick test can understate the composition. We weigh on a calibrated scale to a hundredth of a gram, in front of you. Non-metal residue is deducted.
Otherwise the process is the same as ordinary gold buying — including your freedom to have the price worked out and simply leave.
What to bring
Just the crowns, bridges or loose fragments as you have them, plus photo ID, because precious metal buying carries record-keeping obligations. Nothing needs cleaning or sorting. The valuation is free and non-binding, and payment is immediate.
You will find us at Kotlářská 28, Brno-střed.
