We buy gold and silver.
When we sell, you pay wholesale.
Black House Gold & Silver is a private precious metals office in West Friendswood, just a mile from Pearland Regional Airport. Bring a single ring or an entire estate. Every piece is tested in front of you with our XRF analyzer and weighed on a certified scale you can watch. We show you the live market, explain exactly what your metal is worth, and if the number is right, you are paid the same day. Nothing is too big and nothing is too small.
Texas OCCC Registered DealerNo. 2600083100-236666
Step inside
Two rooms, built around you.
The Collector's Lounge
Built for serious collectors and dealers. This is where we evaluate precious metals, talk through collections, and handle significant sales with complete discretion. We buy from private sellers and small dealers, so bring your goods in, and ask about wholesale pricing for the trade.
The Buying Room
This is where the work gets done, one on one. You sit across the desk from us, we go over everything you brought, and we talk through the best way to handle it. Executive service for every client, and nothing is too big or too small.
Every visit is by appointment, so the time is yours. Tap any photo to see it full size.
The equipment
Technology that takes out the guesswork.
Our office and our equipment
We do not guess. We measure.
X-ray fluorescence analysis
Our preferred method is the XRF analyzer. It reads the elemental makeup of a piece in seconds without harming it, and you watch the percentages come up on screen. Some pieces call for a second check, so we also use other established testing methods when the situation calls for one. Whatever we use, we tell you first and you watch us do it.
Certified precision scales
A Mettler Toledo certified scale that reads to one hundredth of a gram, calibrated and checked. The weight is displayed facing you.
Live market pricing
Offers are built from the current spot market on the day you visit, not from a stale chart. We show you the number we are working from.
A real, secure office
Not a folding table in a hotel ballroom. Not a trailer in a parking lot. A permanent, secure office at a fixed address you can look up.
Discretion by default
Every visit is one on one, and what you bring stays between us. Nothing about your visit is ever discussed outside our office.
We can come to you
For large estates, limited mobility, or when moving valuables is not safe or practical, we bring the office to you.
Nothing goes in a back room
You are sitting there while we work.
We do not hand you a number and ask you to trust it. You sit with us while we work. The analyzer reads your piece and you watch the screen as the numbers come up. The scale is in front of you, facing you. We pull the live market up where you can see it and we show you how your metal prices against it. By the time we make an offer you already know how we got there, because you were there when we got there.
You are not being appraised at. You are part of the work. Ask us anything while we are doing it and we will stop and explain it, whether you end up selling to us or not.
Why we do this
We got taken, and it changed what we do for a living.
We learned this business the hard way. When our family first put money into gold and silver, we went to a dealer, trusted what we were told, and bought what he put in front of us. By the time we understood what we actually owned, it was worth about a third less than what we paid for it. Nobody had to lie to us. They knew things we did not, and the price reflected it. That is what happens when one side of the table knows everything and the other side knows nothing.
So we learned it ourselves, from the ground up. What the testing equipment actually measures. Which scales the state certifies. What the licensing requires. How metal is really priced in the wholesale market. We were trading in that market long before we ever opened a door to the public.
Everything we paid to learn, you get for free, sitting at the table with us.
Tommy Silva Sr. and Thomas Silva Jr.
What we buy
If it is gold, silver, platinum or palladium, we want to see it.
You do not need to know what you have. That is our job. Most of what comes through our door arrives in a jewelry box, an envelope, or a shoebox, and the owner has no idea what any of it is worth.
Rings, chains, bracelets, earrings, pendants. Broken, tangled, missing stones, or a single earring. All of it still has value.
Two of the most commonly thrown-away sources of real gold.
Full sets or loose pieces. Trays, bowls, candlesticks, tea services.
Pre-1965 U.S. dimes, quarters, halves. Morgan and Peace dollars. Foreign silver.
U.S. and foreign. Eagles, Krugerrands, Maple Leafs, Sovereigns, pre-1933 U.S. gold.
Bars and rounds in any size, any mint, gold or silver.
We sell too
Everything we buy, you get first shot at.
Much of what crosses our table is offered to the public first, at wholesale: gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, in bullion, coins, jewelry, and sterling. If you have been wanting to buy metal without paying a retail markup, this is the counter to buy it at.
At wholesale, not retail
You are buying at close to what we paid, not at a marked-up showroom price. That is the whole point.
First look
What we have bought today may be gone tomorrow. Whatever is still here is available first to whoever is sitting across from us.
Gold, silver, platinum, palladium
Bullion bars and rounds, coins, and jewelry, whatever came through the door that week.
In person, by appointment
We do not take orders online and we do not publish inventory. Call or text and ask what we have, or come see it.
What we have changes daily, which is why there is no catalog on this site. The fastest way to know is to call and ask.
Why there is no shopping cart
We do not sell metal through a website, and that is on purpose.
Bullion is priced against a market that moves every few seconds. An anonymous order placed at nine in the morning and reversed at three in the afternoon leaves somebody holding the loss, and in that arrangement it is always the dealer. We would rather not build that cost into everybody else’s price.
So we do it the old way. You tell us what you want, we quote you a live number, and when you say yes the price is locked for both of us. Nobody here gets a worse price to cover somebody else’s change of heart.
Taking delivery
Delivered to you, or handed to you here.
Metal ships sealed and insured out of a secured depository. You can have it delivered straight to your door, or we can take delivery here at the office and put it in your hands in person. Your choice, and the price is the same either way.
How it works
Four steps. No surprises.
Most people have never sold precious metals before and are not sure what to expect. Here is exactly how a visit goes.
You call, text, or book online
Tell us roughly what you have. If it is an estate or a large collection, tell us and someone will call you back to talk it through first. Otherwise we will confirm your appointment and give you directions to the Black House.
We look at it together, at the same table
You sit across from us and watch the whole process. Nothing leaves your sight. Nothing goes into a back room.
We test and weigh it in front of you
Every piece goes under our X-ray analyzer, which reads the exact metal content without cutting, filing, or damaging anything. You see the same reading we see, on the screen, as it happens. Then it goes on a certified scale.
We make you an offer and explain it
We show you the live market price for the day, the weight, the purity, and how we arrived at the number. If you accept, you are paid the same day. If you do not, you take your items and go, with no hard feelings and no fee.
Coins and grading
We are not a grading service. We do know what your coin is worth.
We do not slab coins and we do not assign grades. What we do have is access to the same wholesale bid the graded market actually trades at, through the trading desk we clear our metal through, along with the published price guides that back it up. So if you bring us a graded coin, we can tell you what it is genuinely worth today against a real bid, not a retail sticker price.
And if a piece is worth more than its metal, we will tell you that, even when it means we are not the right buyer for it. That is the part nobody told us.
Black House Gold
Live pricing for approved dealers.
For larger buyers, collectors building a position, and other dealers, we open the desk. You get a scheduled line into a live wholesale market, quotes refreshed in real time, and the ability to lock a price on the phone or sitting here with us while the market is open. You see exactly what we are paying. We add a small transaction fee on top of that, we tell you what it is before you agree to anything, and then the metal is yours. Nothing is hidden inside the price.
You trade with a person, live
Not a form and not a cart. Somebody from this office is on the call or in the room with you while the price is being set.
You see what we pay
The number on the screen is the number we are working from. Our fee sits on top of it in the open, quoted out loud, the same way we build an offer when we are buying from you.
Built for size
Set up for dealers, estate buyers, and anyone putting real money to work. There is no order too large for the channel behind it.
Delivery or pickup
Sealed and insured to your address, or take delivery here in person. Your call.
The only metal we sell at a discount is metal somebody brought in and sold to us over the counter. When that comes across the counter we pass the buy price along. Access is by approval, not by signup.
Size is not the problem
There is no ceiling here.
We trade the wholesale market directly. Our supply runs through a United States Mint Authorized Purchaser, one of a small number of firms in the country the Mint sells to directly. What that means in practice is that we are not limited to what is in the building.
The same wholesale access we have always traded on, now open to you. No order is too small and none is too large. If you are wondering whether we can handle it, that is exactly the call to make.
One coin or a serious position, we can price it and source it against national inventory. We do not keep everything on hand and we will not pretend to. It is available to us at a moment’s notice, and it ships sealed and insured.
Bring us a single ring, a collection, an estate, or a dealer lot. Whatever the size, we settle the whole thing.
On a large order the price is locked the moment you confirm it and the trade is funded by wire. You are not exposed to the market between the handshake and the settlement.
Hours and appointments
Call ahead and we will have the room ready.
We are open seven days a week, 7am to 7pm, by appointment only. One phone call puts you on the calendar, and then we know you are coming, we know roughly what you are bringing, and your desk is ready the moment you arrive. Give us at least one hour ahead so we can be set up and expecting you. If you are already on the way, call and we can usually still get you in.
Call ahead
Tell us what you are bringing and roughly when. We will put you on the calendar and take care of you at a moment’s notice. Nothing about it is formal.
Book a time, 7am to 7pm any day
Every visit is by appointment. Pick a time that fits, and that hour is set aside just for you.
One hour ahead is all we ask
Give us an hour of notice so a rep is here and the desk is ready. Estate or large collection? Call or text first and we will talk it through.
Every visit is a dedicated hour, just you and us. Have an estate or a large collection? Call or text us first. We will talk it through with you, whether we come to you or you come to us, before anything gets scheduled.
18115 County Road 125 · West Friendswood, Texas
We did not pick the name. The neighborhood did.
Long before there was a business here, there was a landmark. Out on County Road 125 there is a black house standing by itself against open Texas sky, and it became the thing people give directions by. Turn at the black house. It is just past the black house. Drivers said it, neighbors said it, and nobody had to be told twice.
Direct to the wholesale market
One step from the mint.
Black House trades on a direct wholesale account with one of the largest precious metals firms in the world. They are a Texas company in business since 1976, and one of only a handful of firms authorized to buy straight from the United States Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint. We work on their trading platform, we see the same live wholesale market they see, and we can buy from them or sell to them in real time.
What that means for you
A real number, right now.
Our offers come off the live wholesale market, not a price sheet printed this morning. The number on the screen is what the market is paying at that moment.
Your metal has somewhere to go.
We can sell straight into the wholesale market, so we never have to guess whether we can move what you bring in. That is why we can pay you the same day.
Coins and bars you can trust.
What we sell comes through the same supply chain that carries new product out of the mints. You are not buying from a stranger online.
Wholesale when you buy.
We buy at dealer pricing, so you pay close to what we pay.
For dealers and serious collectors.
We can source current mint products, handle large lots, and arrange insured shipping straight to you.
Held to a higher standard
A wholesale account at this level is not handed out to anyone. To open it we agreed in writing to follow the Bank Secrecy Act, federal anti-money laundering law, and U.S. Treasury sanctions rules, and we do. Our trading partner holds Responsible Jewellery Council certification for ethical business and chain of custody, and keeps insured vaults in Texas, Delaware and Ontario. Add our own Texas OCCC registration, No. 2600083100-236666, and you are dealing with a buyer that answers to real rules at every step.
Texas OCCC Registered Dealer
Registered with the State of Texas
We are a registered crafted precious metals dealer with the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner. That registration is displayed in our office, our number is printed on this site, and every purchase we make is written up on a state transaction report with your identification recorded, exactly as Texas law requires. Plenty of cash-for-gold operations skip that step. We do not.
Texas state registration
Black House Gold & Silver LLC, crafted precious metal dealer
Registration No. 2600083100-236666. Permanent registered location: 18115 County Road 125, Pearland, Texas 77581. This registered business is regulated by the Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, 2601 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78705-4207.
Our Texas registration as a crafted precious metals dealer covers the purchase and sale of jewelry, silverware, and other objects made in whole or in part from precious metal. Coins, bars, and commemorative medallions fall outside that registration because Texas does not separately register those transactions. We keep the identification records and transaction reports the state requires on every purchase either way.
Common questions
Straight answers.
What if I need this handled right away?
What are your hours? Do I need an appointment?
Do you do loans or pawn?
What should I bring?
Do I have to know what I have?
Is testing going to damage my jewelry?
What does it cost to get an evaluation?
Out front
The 1918 Ford Model TT.
Parked at the Black House is a 1918 Ford Model TT stake bed, black over a hand-built natural-wood bed, with a stacked load of bars riding on the boards.
The TT was Ford's first truck, a heavier frame hauler built for work and introduced in 1917, back when moving metal meant a wooden bed, a canvas tarp, and a man you trusted to sit behind the wheel. The trucks have changed. That last part has not. When we actually move metal for you now it goes sealed and insured out of a secured depository, which is a great deal safer and nowhere near as good looking.
The bed rides on original-style red spoke wheels. Under the hood is a rare WILMO period speed manifold, cast with 'Patent Applied For,' the kind of piece serious Model T collectors go looking for and rarely find. It is a working restoration, and a good reminder of why the old rigs were built the way they were.
Need it handled today
If it cannot wait, say the word.
Some things will not keep. A closing, a funeral, a hospital bill, a deadline somebody else set for you. If you are in that spot, call or text and tell us it is urgent. We will open the office for you. Early, late, weekend, holiday, whatever the day is. You do not have to wait for our hours, because for something like this we do not have hours. If the collection is large or it should not be moved, we will come to you. You will not be handed off, put in a queue, or told to call back Monday.
Call us before you sell.
The worst feeling is finding out later that you left money on the table. A phone call costs nothing, and we will tell you honestly whether the trip is worth it.