Enter through the lobby of this nondescript Juniata Park industrial building and, as one might expect, you are greeted with the high-security measures that are inherent in the gold refining business. Cameras, signs, bulletproof glass … it’s all the norm at Garfield Refining, the 122-year-old Philadelphia company.
A tour of the facility reveals the gold refining process from start to finish. Shipments arrive from literally all over the world and are taken to the intake room, where the packages are opened and assessed. A worksheet is generated with a detailed description and a preliminary weight for each item. Artillery shells, bullets, religious icons, and artificial joints—Garfield has seen quite an array of metallic materials come across its desk.
The values assigned to the deliveries are assessed the day of their receipt, based on that day’s gold market. Customers are given the option of swapping out their metals and taking the value in certified gold bullion in the form of coins or bars.
Geopolitical and economic forces in the commodities market naturally fluctuate the price of gold and other precious metals. But the one constant in play is the index used for valuation: the London Fix, the price of gold, determined twice a day (AM and PM) by the London Gold Market Fixing Ltd.
In the customer service area, each shipment of metals is examined and weighed. The metal is then prepared for melting and reweighed. Low-grade metals often require the addition of copper. Finally entering the actual refining area, we don OSHA-required safety glasses. Here, employee James Freeman expertly melts the loose metals individually into bars. The big furnaces that hold large lots can tilt forward and back to better control the molten liquids. Once melted, the bars are again weighed and core-drilled by Garfield employee Tito Jorge for sampling. The drill samples move on to the assay laboratory for analysis. All lots are identified from intake with control numbers that follow them around the facility.
The assay lab is where science and art meet. A high-tech x-ray fluorescence spectrometer computes the percentage of various metals in any given sample. It’s so specific that minute particles of gold, platinum, palladium, and silver can be detected and recorded.
Base metals have little to no value and around the refinery, there are plenty of examples. Buckets of watches, forks, costume jewelry, and coins are on display, discarded in the sorting and analysis process. Truly, they’re nothing new to the folks at Garfield Refining—founded in 1892 as Eastern Smelting and Refining by Isaac Garfield—a company of roughly 50 employees between the office, shop, and across the nation, where field reps work with jewelers, dentists, pawn shops, and gold buyers and sellers.
Written by
Allie BowmanAllie Bowman is the Content Lead at Garfield Refining, where she translates more than 130 years of precious metals expertise into clear, accurate, and practical content for individual sellers, dental professionals, jewelers, and collectors. A Dean's List graduate of the University of Delaware's Media Communication program, Allie has built her career around making complex subjects accessible to a broad audience. Her experience spans nutrition science, lifestyle magazine publishing, and precious metals refining, giving her a unique ability to transform technical information into engaging, trustworthy content. At Garfield, Allie brings editorial rigor and subject-matter expertise to every piece she produces. She works closely with Garfield's refining specialists and senior leadership to ensure that technical topics - from karat markings and assay methods to precious metals markets and spot price mechanics - are explained with both accuracy and clarity. Since joining Garfield's marketing team, Allie has written extensively on precious metals refining, dental scrap recovery, gold and silver bullion, estate and inherited jewelry, and industry-specific topics for dental and jewelry professionals. All content is reviewed by Garfield's leadership team prior to publication, ensuring it reflects the company's standards for accuracy, transparency, and industry expertise.
Reviewed by
Morgan KerrisseyMorgan Kerrissey is the President of Garfield Refining, one of North America's most longstanding and trusted precious metals refineries. For over two decades, Morgan has built his career at the intersection of commodities markets, metallurgy, and precious metals — earning a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable voices in the refining industry. Morgan joined Garfield in 2008, bringing rigorous operational discipline to a company built on exacting standards since 1892. Named President in 2014, he has guided Garfield through volatile gold, silver, and palladium markets, while modernizing its workforce and technologies and diversifying its metal supply chains. Under his leadership, Garfield has expanded its refining capabilities across the full lifecycle of precious metals recovery, entered new markets, and expanded services while maintaining the same customer forward approach that has made Garfield a mainstay for more than a century. From hedging strategy to daily refinery operations, Morgan commands high levels of technical depth and market fluency. Morgan grew up outside Boston, graduated from Harvard University, and has lived with his family in Philadelphia, PA for almost 20 years.