Profiteering Alert: Is Jewelry Scrap the Most Common Source of Karat Gold?
We’re going to crawl out on a limb today and state our opinion that karat gold jewelry scrap is probably the biggest and best source of recyclable gold.
Why do we think that? Because you don’t have to go panning in the Yukon to find jewelry scrap or (in most cases) hike around fields with a metal detector. Karat jewelry gold scrap is a lot easier to find than that, as the following stories illustrate.
Case Study One: Missing Links
In 1985, a woman in Ohio got an 18K gold charm bracelet from her son and daughter. What a nice gift. It had a charm attached for each of her four grandchildren. The only problem was, the chain was too long. So she went to a local jeweler, had three links removed from it – and never asked to keep those links. The jeweler put them in a drawer where he kept similar materials and they stayed there until he sold his business in 2011.
Case Study Two: A Broken Watch Lug
In 2001, a man we know was cleaning out the home of his mother, who had passed away. In the dresser drawer where she kept her jewelry, he found an 18k gold watch in its original box. The only problem was, the watch’s case was broken: one of the lugs (the little bars where watch bands attach) had broken off. “I’ve got to take it to a jeweler to find out about getting it fixed,” the man said. But would you believe that 15 years later, that broken watch is now sitting in his dresser drawer? It just goes to show that gold jewelry scrap has a way of hanging around for a long time.
Case Study Three: A Thingamajig in a Dresser Drawer
Last year a woman bought an old dresser in an antique store and sent it to a local craftsman to be refinished. A day later, he called and said, “I found some little pieces of jewelry stuck on the edges of the bottom of the top dresser drawer, and one of them could be gold.” She went to his workshop and he handed her an envelope that contained three piece of metal: a silver chain link (nearly worthless), a little silver pendant that contained a false gemstone (worth maybe a dollar or two), and a shapeless little chunk of 18k gold that weighed about 1/20 of an ounce, worth about $75. It had apparently broken off from some larger piece of gold jewelry and rolled off into a corner. This story goes to show that old pieces of furniture are great places to look for gold jewelry scrap.
Case Study Four: A Workshop with Gold Wire, Chains, Pins, Findings and other Gold Scrap
Companies that manufacture gold jewelry keep a lot of gold on hand – wires, clasps and other findings, chains, and more. That was the case when a jewelry manufacturer in the Midwest closed its doors. Its assets were auctioned off at a public sale, where alert gold hunters were able to poke around and invest only a few hundred dollars to snap up karat gold scrap that was worth twice what they paid for it. The message? When jewelry makers go out of business, the supplies they leave behind can be undervalued or overlooked.
What Gold Karat Scrap Will You Find?
Please start hunting. We don’t know what you will find, but we do hope that today’s post will alert you to some places where you stand a good chance of finding undiscovered jewelry scrap. When you do, give us a call at 800-426-2344 to learn how you can recycle karate gold jewelry scrap and unlock its full value. Be sure to mention today’s post and ask about the free or discounted shipping costs we offer on many items that are sent to us for testing.
Related Posts:
An Invitation to Jewelers, Pawnbrokers and Other Jewelry Professionals to Partner with Our Precious Metals Refinery
What Is Karat Gold and How Can You Find Out What Yours Is Worth?
Karat Gold: A Quick Review
Recycling Precious Metals - It’s Time You Found Out about Findings