Yeah they said they would take gold filled but not vermeil, the person I talked to said they had no method for separating the sterling from the plating but it does seem odd to me too
Very odd… I use a 24K acid based solution for gold-plating, and for
vermeil scrap I usually just torch the gold-plate off and throw the
sterling in with the rest of my scrap. Never had a problem. On
several occasions it’s gotten thrown into the electromelt as is, and
there’s been no adverse effects on the castings.
Lyn Punkari
http://www.darkridgejewels.com