Gold refinery in Los Angeles, open to the public
Most refiners in LA will only settle with a wholesale account holder. South Bay Coin owns its refinery and buys refinery direct from anyone who walks in, from a single ring to an entire estate lot.
The gold refinery Los Angeles sellers can actually use
Search for a gold refinery in Los Angeles and you will find real ones. What you will rarely find is one that will take your gold. The refiners listed downtown and across the county are wholesale operations that settle with trade accounts: jewelers, pawnbrokers, coin dealers, estate buyers, and dental labs. Their counters sit on upper floors of office buildings, they keep weekday business hours, and a first-time seller is usually asked to open an account before anything is weighed.
South Bay Coin is built the other way around. We own and operate our refinery, and we buy directly from the public with no account, no application, and no sponsorship from a dealer. A jeweler clearing out old stock and a family sorting through an inherited box get the same counter, the same testing, and the same refinery-direct offer.
That matters because the layer we remove is a real one. A pawn shop or jewelry store that buys your gold is not the end of the chain. It resells to a refiner, and the margin it needs to survive is built into the number it offers you. When you sell to the refinery itself, that step is gone. It is the same reason trade professionals across the South Bay bring us their scrap rather than a retail counter.
We have done this from one address since 1980, licensed, bonded, and insured under California law. If you are ready to sell gold in Los Angeles without a broker in the middle, walk in during business hours. There is no minimum, no appointment, and no obligation to accept what we quote.
Our Lawndale refinery and showroom
South Bay Coin
Get Directions
Sat: 10 AM - 3 PM
Sun: Closed
What a refining lot really costs you
Sending metal out to be refined and selling it outright are two different transactions, and sellers often ask for the first when they want the second. A refining lot is a processing job. Your material is melted together, a sample is drawn, and the sample is assayed, usually by fire assay for karat scrap or by X-ray fluorescence for cleaner material. You are then settled on the metal the assay says was actually recovered.
The costs sit in the details. A refining charge is taken against the lot. There may be a separate assay or lot fee, a handling charge on smaller parcels, and a treatment charge on material that is dirty, mixed, or stone-set. Melt loss is real: solder, base-metal clasps, spring bars, and plating burn off, and what returns is less than what went on the scale. Settlement follows the assay rather than the drop-off, and the market can move in between.
None of that is dishonest. It is simply how a wholesale lot is priced, and for a jeweler moving a full parcel it is the right route. For most people it is the wrong one. Below a meaningful volume, the fee structure and the wait cost more than the process returns.
An outright purchase skips all of it. We test and weigh in front of you, quote on the pure metal content, and buy the lot ourselves. No refining charge comes out of your number, because the refining is our cost and our business, not a service we are billing you for. The same applies to material that is already refined, such as gold and silver bars, where there is nothing left to process and the offer tracks the metal directly.
Gold we buy refinery direct
We purchase gold-bearing material outright in any karat, any condition, and any quantity, from raw scrap through to finished gold jewelry. Trade sellers and private sellers are quoted at the same counter on the same basis.
Jewelers Scrap & Old Stock
Unsold inventory, broken repairs, bench offcuts, casting sprues, and buttons. Bring the parcel as it sits, sorted or unsorted.
Dental Gold
Crowns, bridges, inlays, and partials, with tooth and porcelain still attached. We account for the non-metal weight before quoting.
Estate & Trust Lots
Mixed boxes from an estate, a trust, or a probate sale. Executors and attorneys receive an itemized breakdown piece by piece.
Bullion, Bars & Coins
Recognized bars, rounds, and coins. As a coin dealer we check collector value first and pay the higher of the two figures.
Sell to the refiner in three steps
Walk In or Send Photos
Come to 16916 Hawthorne Blvd in Lawndale during business hours. No account, no appointment. Or text photos of the parcel first.
Sorted and Weighed in Front of You
We separate the parcel by purity, confirm each grouping, and weigh it on a calibrated scale while you watch. Nothing leaves the counter.
Refinery-Direct Offer, Paid Today
We explain how the number was built and pay on the spot if you accept. Decline and the parcel goes home with you. Bring photo ID.
South Bay Coin vs. other gold refiners
Every column below refines metal. What separates them is who they are willing to transact with, and what comes out of your settlement before you are paid.
| South Bay Coin | Wholesale Refiners | Mail-In Refiners | Pawn Shops | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refines metal in house | ||||
| Sell without a trade account | Account required | Varies | ||
| Walk in without an appointment | Varies | |||
| Refining fee taken off your settlement | Never | Usually | Usually | Not applicable |
| Metal stays in the room with you | ||||
| Prices collectible coins above melt | Always | Rarely | Rarely | Sometimes |
| Open on Saturdays | Rarely | Not applicable | Varies | |
| Licensed CA dealer since 1980 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
What our customers say
Common questions about gold refineries
Yes. South Bay Coin at 16916 Hawthorne Blvd in Lawndale owns its refinery and buys from anyone, Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM. Most other refiners in Los Angeles County are wholesale operations that settle only with approved trade accounts.
At most refiners, yes. They serve jewelers, dealers, pawnbrokers and dental labs, and new customers are asked to complete an application before any metal is accepted. We require no account and no application. Bring your gold and a valid photo ID, which California law requires for precious metal transactions.
A refinery processes gold-bearing material back into pure metal. A gold buyer purchases your item and then sells it onward to a refinery, keeping the difference. South Bay Coin is both, so the resale margin that a buyer needs to survive never has to come out of your offer.
No. We buy your material outright rather than refining it as a service and returning the metal. You are quoted on the pure gold content, and you are paid in the same visit if you accept. That structure means no refining charge or assay fee is ever deducted from what you receive.
A wholesale refining lot typically carries a refining charge, and often an assay or lot fee, a handling charge on small parcels, and a treatment charge on dirty or stone-set material. Melt loss reduces the recovered weight as well. Selling outright to us avoids every one of those deductions.
Wholesale refiners often apply lot minimums or small-parcel handling charges that make tiny quantities uneconomic. We set no minimum at all. A single broken chain is welcome at the same counter as a jeweler's full parcel or an entire estate, and both are quoted on the same basis.
Yes. We buy crowns, bridges, inlays and partials, and there is no need to remove tooth material or porcelain first. Dental alloys vary widely in composition and often contain palladium or platinum alongside the gold, so each piece is evaluated on its own rather than at a flat scrap rate.
Yes. Bench offcuts, casting sprues, buttons, unsold inventory and broken repairs are all bought outright, sorted or unsorted. Trade sellers get the same walk-in counter as everyone else with no account paperwork, which is often faster than opening a file with a wholesale refiner downtown. Bring the parcel exactly as it sits.
Generally yes, because a pawn shop is a reseller. It buys your gold, then sells it on to a refiner, and it must price low enough to profit on that resale. A refinery is the end of that chain, so the intermediate markup does not exist and more of the metal value reaches you.
We are at 16916 Hawthorne Blvd in Lawndale, on the Hawthorne Boulevard corridor between Torrance and Hawthorne, minutes from the 405 and the 105. Sellers reach us easily from the South Bay, the Westside, the Harbor area and downtown. Call (310) 363-7808 or text photos to (310) 363-2697.
Ready to sell refinery direct?
Walk in with no account and no appointment, or text photos of your parcel for a same-day estimate. Free evaluations, immediate payment.
