Photo/Illutration Silver teeth and crowns bought by the Sannomiya Center-gai Bookoff outlet. (Naoyuki Mori)

KOBE--If every cloud has a silver lining, that was never more true than for a used goods store here that is part of a nationwide chain dealing with customers who have fallen on hard times.

In this case, the outlet has stumbled on a virtual gold mine.

Bookoff Group Holdings Ltd. operates around 800 outlets in Japan and abroad that buy used products for resell. As the company name suggests, the group started out focusing on secondhand books.

But for the past six months, its Sannomiya Center-gai outlet has been purchasing silver fillings and crowns.

In late September, a woman in her 40s from Osaka brought in a silver crown and filling and was pleasantly surprised to receive 2,400 yen ($16) for the 2.4 grams of silver in the dental work. The tooth was extracted but she kept it.

The Bookoff Group does a brisk trade in gold fillings at about 100 outlets across the nation. The metal is sold to recycling companies that process the metal for reuse.

Takahisa Oyagi, 39, is in charge of purchasing used items at the Sannomiya outlet.

Earlier this year, a customer who came to sell gold fillings asked about the possibility of selling silver fillings.

Oyagi thought “why not” and decided to begin purchases on a trial basis from mid-April, seeing as silver is the most used metal in dental work in Japan.

Over the next six months, around 250 people sold 600 or so silver fillings and crowns. One customer came in with about 10 items.

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Silver and gold recycled from silver teeth and crowns (Naoyuki Mori)

“I was surprised at the unexpected demand,” Oyagi said. “There must be many customers who hold on to the silver after having it returned during dental work because they simply could not bear to throw it away.”

There has been little disparity in gender among those selling the silver, but most were in their 40s and 50s.

“Many customers are surprised at the higher than expected price they receive,” Oyagi said. “Some are happy because they can buy lunch with what they receive.”

Normally, silver sells for between 100 and 150 yen per gram. But silver fillings can fetch between 800 yen and 1,000 yen per gram.

The reason is that fillings and crowns are not 100-percent silver, but also contain traces of gold and palladium, another precious metal.

Since all three metals can be separated from the fillings and reused, the price paid for silver fillings is higher than for silver only.

Oyagi acknowledged there is not much profit because the amount paid for silver fillings is between one-third and one-sixth of what is paid for gold fillings.

“Even so, more customers are bringing in silver fillings,” Oyagi said. “We plan to continue buying silver as our social contribution through effective usage of resources.”

The Bookoff Group said it would consider whether to allow more of its outlets to buy silver fillings after observing business trends at the Sannomiya outlet for a while longer.

Other companies also see a shiny future in silver.

Shikakin, based in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is a precious metal recycling company which also purchases silver fillings.

According to Tetsuo Shinzaki, the company president, the silver market price has roughly doubled compared to before the novel coronavirus pandemic, in line with the increased global popularity of gold as a safe asset.

Shinzaki believes the value of gold and silver will continue to rise.

There has been a 1.5-fold increase in customers selling their silver fillings at Shikakin outlets.

“Many people likely just discarded their old silver fillings in the past,” Shinzaki said. “I believe more people will begin selling them after they realize the high value.”

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