Selling/Scrapping Used Circuit Breakers Silver Recovery

I tried searching this site for more info on circuit breakers and typed items such as "circuit breaker value". When I used those words I found 13 pages of results, but nothing that really addressed my questions on circuit breakers. So here goes:



1) It appears that removing the silver contacts might actually be quite dangerous (if not lethal) due to the cadmium that appears to be mixed with the silver. Is this true?

2) Is it at least safe to handle used circuit breakers without gloves as long as they are not broken down?

3) I hear that some brands (i.e., Westinghouse) contain a lot more silver than others (i.e., General Electric). I realize there are at least 200 brands out there, but I figure that the more popular ones would include say 20-25 names. Does anyone know of any site (or place on this site) that contains specs on how much silver is included in the various model numbers of popular brand circuit breakers?

4) Is it best to take apart the circuit breakers to sell the silver (since you are doing more work) or is it better to leave the breaker alone and sell it intact? That way the name and model number are available to the buyer and the breakers they buy can be separated by name brand and perhaps valued more easily.

I got a few dozen of these (total of 6 different brands) while scrapping a residential remodel last night. Any help would be appreciated.

If you are worried about heavy metals, you may not want to be in the scrapping business - there is a lot of nasty stuff in scrap.
As far as circuit breakers - a few cents each is the scrap value. Some have more silver, some have less silver.

Put the breakers in a cloth bag, smash it with a hammer, and TEST the results for silver bearing metals. Most modern breakers will have a few milligrams worth of recoverable silver. You may be lucky enough to find an old breaker with 1 or more grams, but that seems to be rare. Most breakers and relays have silver-alloy contacts.

Remember to TEST all items for silver - never assume something is silver just from looking at it !!!
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On a side note: platinum and iridium spark plugs have $0.02 - $0.05 worth of metal in the contacts.