Send photos
Photograph the material, nameplates and quantity, then send them through the quote form, by email or by phone.
COPPER VALUE EDUCATION
What makes copper worth more or less.
Five things decide what your copper is worth — grade, recovery, condition, sorting, and today’s market. This page explains all five in plain language. When you want a number on your actual pile, run our pile estimator — or just text photos to 312-880-8174.
THE FIVE LEVERS
What makes copper worth more or less
Every offer comes down to five things.
1. Grade
The single biggest lever. Bare bright wire — stripped, clean, shiny — sits at the top: it’s the purest commercial copper form and the easiest to verify. No. 1 copper (clean tubing, bus bar, solids) is close behind. No. 2 (painted, soldered, tarnished) and insulated wire sit in the middle — real copper value with processing ahead of it. Brass and bronze are their own categories entirely. The copper wire grades guide maps every type.
2. Recovery
For insulated wire, what matters is the copper inside the jacket — the recovery percentage. Thick feeder cable recovers high; thin thermostat wire is mostly jacket. Thicker cable, more copper, stronger offer. Never burn insulation off — burned wire is downgraded.
3. Condition
Clean, dry, honestly described lots verify fast and earn the strong end of their grade. Oily, wet, or mystery-pile lots get priced defensively — the buyer prices in the unknown.
4. Sorting
A mixed bucket grades at its lowest. Separating bare bright from insulated, copper from brass, takes minutes with side cutters and routinely pays for itself — it’s often the highest-paid half hour in the whole transaction.
5. The market
Copper trades every business day, and offers move with it. That’s why Ironcrest doesn’t publish per-pound prices — any number on this page would be stale before the ink dried. Text photos to 312-880-8174 for today’s actual price.
Ready for a number on your pile? The pile estimator is our flagship tool — walk through your actual material for a ballpark range, then send photos for today’s price.
HOW TIERS WORK
What the value tiers mean
The estimator sorts lots into tiers that mirror how buyers actually think. Top tier is bare bright wire — clean, stripped, unalloyed copper at its purest commercial form, straightforward to verify and the first thing every buyer wants. Strong tier covers #1 copper: clean tubing, bus bar, and solids — real copper, real weight, minor handling marks allowed. Mid tier is #2 copper and insulated wire: genuine copper value with processing ahead of it — solder and paint to account for, jackets to strip or recovery percentages to estimate. Alloy tier is brass and bronze: priced as their own categories, bronze typically above brass on copper content, both routed to brass mills and foundries rather than copper refiners. A mixed lot is evaluated as a blend of what is in it — and in practice, as its lowest grade, which is why sorting is the fastest upgrade available. Condition then moves you within the tier: sorted, dry, honestly described lots verify fast and earn the stronger end; dirty, oily, mystery-pile lots carry a verification discount because the buyer prices in the unknown. None of this is a price — it is a map of where your lot sits and what would move it up.
WORKED EXAMPLE
See it in action
Take an electrician's van cleanout: 120 lbs of stripped bright wire from a commercial rewire, 60 lbs of clean copper pipe with the brass fittings cut off, and a bucket of mixed insulated drops. Run as one lot, the buyer sees a blend and prices defensively — the insulated drops and any questionable pieces set the tone. Run as three described classes — bare bright, #1 tubing, insulated wire — each earns its own tier, the photos tell a clean story, and the quote reflects confidence instead of caution. The sorting took maybe half an hour with side cutters. That half hour is routinely the highest-paid time in the whole transaction. Now the honest limits: the estimator cannot see your material. It does not know that the "clean tubing" still has soldered joints (that is #2), that the "bare bright" is actually copper-clad steel (the magnet test would have caught it), or that the insulated cable is aluminum inside (strip a section and check). Garbage in, garbage out — the tool is only as good as the description you give it. When the real quote happens, verification is physical: eyes, magnet, scale, and often an XRF gun.
PUT IT TOGETHER
From knowledge to a number
Knowing the levers is step one. Step two is a number on your pile — and that’s what the pile estimator does. Walk through your actual material — copper, carbide, brass, bronze in one pass — get a ballpark range, then text photos to 312-880-8174 for today’s actual price. No math box, no stale charts — just your material, today’s market, and a straight answer. Chicago piles go same day — text photos to 312-880-8174 and we’ll schedule the pickup.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Copper questions, answered.
What makes copper worth more?
High grade (bare bright, clean No. 1), high copper recovery, clean and dry condition, honest sorting, and selling on a strong market day. Sorting the obvious grades apart is the fastest upgrade.
What makes copper worth less?
Paint, solder, and tinning (No. 2), heavy insulation with low recovery, oil and contamination, mixed mystery piles, and aluminum or steel hiding in the load.
Where do I get a number on my pile?
Run the pile estimator for a ballpark range, then text photos to 312-880-8174 for today’s actual price.
Why don’t you publish per-pound prices?
Copper trades every business day. Any published number would be stale immediately — and a stale number helps nobody. Today’s price comes from photos of your actual material.
Send photos, estimated weight, material type, and location for today’s price. Email [email protected] or call 312-880-8174.
SEND PHOTOS FIRST
Send photos for today's price.
Every copper lot is different — grade, form, quantity, and sorting all move the offer. Clear photos and an honest description are all it takes to get today's price, quoted against current copper markets.
HOW SELLING WORKS
Three steps to an offer.
Material review
We review what the material is, its condition and quantity, and whether it fits a direct purchase.
Receive an offer
For qualifying material, we discuss a direct purchase offer and the next steps.
Got more than copper in the pile?
Run the whole load through the pile estimator — copper, carbide, brass, and bronze in one pass, with a ballpark range and a tap-to-call finish.