This guide is the reference library of Gold & Silver Company, a precious metals Smelter-Refinery in Dottignies (Mouscron), Belgium, approved by the Royal Mint of Belgium and holder of the status of accredited assayer. Every page is written by the house and binds the house: what is published here is what you are told at the agency. The guide grows page after page, as we publish.
Selling your gold
- Sell your gold jewellery and diamonds Jewellery, chains, rings and diamonds: weighed and assayed in front of you, offer at the day's price.
- Sell your gold bars and coins Direct-to-refinery buyback: control, weighing and an offer on the market price, no middleman.
- Selling your gold in Belgium The reference page: how a gold sale in Belgium unfolds, from the doorstep to payment.
- Comparing gold buyback offers The six-check method to bring two offers back to the only comparable figure, the net amount paid, with a calculator connected to our price list.
- The buyback price of 18-carat gold Why 18-carat gold is worth three quarters of its weight in fine gold, and how the daily grid sets the price per gram.
- The gold bar without a certificate Why a bar without its papers keeps its full value: spectrometry analysis in our laboratory, immediate buyback or exchange for certified bars.
- Selling your gold by secured parcel The registered, insured and counter-signed shipping procedure for selling from a distance.
- Napoleon and French gold francs The guide to the 5, 10, 20, 40, 50 and 100 francs: history, fine gold content, premium, today's BID and ASK prices.
- Selling gold near Lille and the Belgian border Why crossing the border means selling directly to the refinery, 15 minutes from Lille.
- Private customer rates Published buying and selling prices, continuously updated.
- Gold professionals: dedicated rates Buying conditions reserved for professionals of the trade.
- The 500 euro cash ceiling What Belgian law allows in cash when selling gold, and how the balance is settled.
Buying and investing
- Certified gold bars Gold bars of 999.9 fineness, cast and certified, from small bars to the one kilo bar.
- The 5 gram gold bar The smallest bar of the house: 999.9 fine gold, minted and sealed in blister in Dottignies (Mouscron), what the hand holds and what the hallmark commits to.
- The 10 gram gold bar The first step of the range: 999.9 fine gold minted in Dottignies (Mouscron), the round decagram, the unit in which part of the world counts its gold.
- The 20 gram gold bar The largest minted format of the range: fine gold Au 999.9, the last minting before casting, sealed in blister in Dottignies (Mouscron).
- Investment coins Napoleon 20 francs, Sovereign, Krugerrand, Maple Leaf: the recognised market coins.
- Gold and purchasing power: the lesson of the seventeen napoleons From 2002 to 2026, the same sum in banknotes, in cows and in napoleon coins: what gold preserves, with the figures to prove it.
- Gold for your company treasury Buying gold and silver in a company's name: invoices, custody, accounting follow-up and resale, whatever the sector.
Taxation and inheritance
- The capital gains tax explained The 10% rate, the 10,000 € exemption, the reference value at 31 December 2025: the 2026 reform decoded.
- Inheritance: gold as a legacy Death does not trigger the tax, but it does not purge the latent capital gain: what heirs need to understand.
- French customers: the cross-border framework Selling in Belgium as a French resident: what changes, what does not.
- The official FAQ of the house Gold & Silver Company binding answers to the most frequent questions.
The house and the metal
- The refinery manifesto What it means to sell to a refiner rather than to a middleman.
- Our bars: a tour of the manufacturing process Melting, casting, hallmarking and sealing: how a Gold & Silver Company bar is made, scene by scene, from molten metal to certificate.
- From Babylon to CERN: the long conquest of pure gold Three and a half millennia of refining: the furnace of Babylon, the world’s first refinery at Sardis, the alchemists’ aqua regia, electrolysis and CERN’s 29 picograms.
- Gold: Belgium or Switzerland? Two models face to face: Switzerland refines for the banks and sends private buyers to resellers, Belgium opens its refineries to the public; the LBMA label, the euro, the border and customs under scrutiny.
- Silver and silverware Solid silver, silver plate or white metal: the hallmarks that settle the question (Minerva head, lion passant, the number 90), Belgium's legal finenesses, buyback value and the gestures of the counter; a hallmark school and a ten-question test.
- Dental gold Crowns, bridges, inlays and grillz: the three families of alloys (yellow, white, grey), why neither carat nor hallmark applies, the trap of colour, the scales and the spectrometer at the counter; a nine-question test.
- Crossing the border to sell your gold Cross-border sellers and European neighbours: what the law guarantees, six rumours answered, and how a visit to Dottignies (Mouscron) unfolds.
- The college of experts Eight professions under one roof: one history, one address, all the expertise in one place.
- Recycled gold The only origin that can be proven: European jewellery bought back in the branch, remelted into bars under one roof.
- Secured vaults Safe deposit boxes for valuables and metals.
Going further
- The blog: analyses and guides The house market analyses and practical guides.
Questions about this guide
Where should I start if I know nothing about gold?
Start by knowing what you own. The appraisal at our agency is free, immediate and without obligation: your items are weighed and assayed in front of you, and you leave with a precise figure. This guide then helps you understand that figure: real fineness, the day rate, the legal framework of the settlement.
Why would a refinery publish its knowledge for free?
Because transparency is our business model. An informed seller compares offers, and comparison favours the buyer who values metal at its real fineness rather than at a flat rate. Publishing our methods costs us nothing: they can be verified at the agency.
Does this guide replace advice in person?
No, and it does not claim to. The guide gives the general framework: the law, assay methods, market practice. Your specific situation is handled at the agency or by telephone, case by case. The information published here does not constitute individual tax or wealth advice.
Is the information in this guide the same as what is said at the agency?
Yes, that is the house rule: a single version of the facts. What is written in this guide is what our staff say at the agency, in the same terms. If you notice a difference between the two, report it: the faulty page will be corrected.
Every page of this guide binds the house. Guide updated on 11 August 2026.