Lancaster County Sheriff's Office

Precious Metals Dealer License

A retail-store business in Lancaster County that buys precious metals from the general public for resale or refining — a pawn-shop or jewelry-buyer type operation — needs this annual license from the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office under the Precious Metal Sale Regulation Law (Act 17 of 1984), 73 P.S. §1932(a), which requires a license 'from the sheriff of each... county.' The fee is $50 per year, confirmed both on Lancaster County's own current Precious Metals Dealer Application ('Application Fee - $50.00 Payable to the Sheriff of Lancaster County') and in the implementing regulation, 37 Pa Code §501.5, which sets the figure at $50 annually. The two sources differ only on an administrative detail, not the amount: 37 Pa Code §501.5 directs the fee to be paid to the county treasurer, while Lancaster County's own current application form instead directs payment to the Sheriff of Lancaster County directly — the dollar amount is unaffected, and the county's own current form controls for an applicant deciding who to pay.