if ya go to castboolits in the swappin' and sellin' pages ya can find out about what it's worth in the real world and how to tell'em apart. flat-rate boxes of 60 to 70lbs go anywhere from $50.00 or so per box up to about $1.00 per lb for the better grades. tin to harden the mix goes for several bucks a lb. this is usually but not always already smelted into ingots. for what it's worth, bubba.
Wheel weights that have been sorted and smelted into ingots are worth significantly more than raw wheel weights; that's just common sense. I generally see WW ingots selling for up to $1 per pound, regardless of what the spot price is at the salvage yard.
Yeah, you might get a 5-gallon bucket of raw "wheel weights" for
free, beer, donuts, pizza, or $10-20. That includes lead, steel, zinc, razor blades, valve stems, snuff boxes, cigarette butts, etc. Figure that 25-35% of the weight of the bucket is trash. When you're buying ingots, it's
all usable lead; big difference.
At least, that's
my take on it.