Other · Tier C

Mechanical & Vintage Keyboards

Flip it and read the label — IBM, Model M, Model F, or anything with a coiled cable and real weight is a resale item; a light rubber-dome office board is $2 of shred.

Au trace–0.05 g/lbCu 10–18 g/lbBase steel plate 30–50%

eBay typical$25–150per lb

Refiner pays$0.2per lb

Metal in it$2.76per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencelowof the yield figures

How to spot it

IBM Model M (1391401) and Model F, Cherry MX-era vintage (G80/G81), Alps-switch boards (Apple AEK/AEK II, Dell AT101W), Hall-effect Honeywell/Micro Switch boards, beam-spring IBM 3276/5251, NCR/Burroughs terminal boards with gold reed or crosspoint switches. Weight and coiled DIN/SDL cables are the fast tells.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	trace–0.05 g/lb	Gold crosspoint and reed contacts in pre-1980 boards only — estimated
Copper	10–18 g/lb	Cable, plate, solenoid in beam-spring boards
Base metal	steel plate 30–50%	The plastic case is most of the rest

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $2.76 per lb of contained metal — Gold 0.02 g = $2.61, Copper 14 g = $0.15. A refiner paying $0.2 per lb returns about 7% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Switch desolder 300–330 °C

Resale path: retrobright and clean, sell complete. Parts path: switches desolder at 300–330 °C and sell in lots (Alps and vintage Cherry bring $0.50–2/switch); keycap sets often outvalue the board. True scrap: steel plate to steel, board to low-grade, cable to ICW.

Hazards

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

🪚 Fibreglass and board dust

NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.

Before you scrap it

Model M $50–150, Model F $150–400, beam-spring $300–800+, AEK/Alps boards $40–120, keycap sets $20–100, switch lots by the piece. Rubber domes are the only honest scrap.

The common trap

Beam-spring and Hall-effect boards look like beige junk and sell for $200–800 to keyboard collectors — the strongest look-before-you-scrap case outside test equipment. Even stripped Model M cases and badge sets sell. Nothing here is worth more as metal than as parts.

Questions

How much gold is in mechanical & vintage keyboards?

Gold: trace–0.05 g/lb. Copper: 10–18 g/lb. At current spot that is about $2.76 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify mechanical & vintage keyboards?

Flip it and read the label — IBM, Model M, Model F, or anything with a coiled cable and real weight is a resale item; a light rubber-dome office board is $2 of shred.

How do you remove mechanical & vintage keyboards safely?

Is mechanical & vintage keyboards worth more working than as scrap?

Model M $50–150, Model F $150–400, beam-spring $300–800+, AEK/Alps boards $40–120, keycap sets $20–100, switch lots by the piece. Rubber domes are the only honest scrap.

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