Where to Find Great Big Chunks of Gold
If you read this blog regularly, you have noticed that a lot of our blog posts give advice on where you can find little quantities of gold. We have written about how we can extract small amounts of gold from gold-plated jewelry, from old eyeglass frames, from printed circuit boards, and even from small piles of sweepings from factory floors.
There is no doubt that there is money to be made from reclaiming small amounts of gold from sources like those. But let’s not forget something else about gold recycling . . .
Great big chunks of gold are out there also, waiting for you to find them
And let’s face some facts. Great big chunks of gold, if you can find them, offer you a bigger payback than little tiny amounts from other sources. Great big chunks are usually easier to recycle in our labs. Also, great big chunks of gold often have high karat classifications, which means that they are worth more per ounce than gold from other sources.
Okay You’re Sold . . . But Where Do You Find those Big Chunks?
Granted, they are rare and hard to find. But here are some items to be on the lookout for:
Gold nuggets found in streambeds and other natural settings. Are they rare? You can be assured, they are. But that doesn’t mean that no one is finding them. In 2016, for example, a man in California found an 18-ounce gold nugget in a stream. It was worth about $70,000. Now that is a nice discovery! If you find one of those, you can forget about recycling printed circuit boards for a long time.
Gold religious items. Chances are you have seen people wearing great big religious medals and started to assume that they must all be low-value gold-plated items. And you have seen other people wearing gold Stars of David, crucifixes and other religious jewelry. How can they be worth much? But the fact is, it is possible to come across the “real deal” from time to time, a solid-gold religious item in 18K gold, or even more highly rated. So when you come across a religious item for sale, don’t automatically assume it is not worth much. Look for a karat stamp on it or – an even better idea – send it to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners for analysis.
Gold tuxedo shirt studs. They are little. So why are we describing them in an article about great big chunks of gold? Simple answer – if you find a set of six or more solid-gold studs, you have come across something that can be worth a few thousand dollars. They are easy to overlook, because it is natural to assume that they must be gold-filled or gold-plated, not the solid stuff. But look closely for karat stampings. And if you can buy a set of studs for only a few dollars, do so. Then send them to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners for testing.
Getting Big Money from Big Chunks of Gold
Call us at 800-426-2344 and talk to us about getting your gold items tested. That big chunk that you assume isn’t pure gold just might be. Big sums of money can be hiding in the chunks of gold-colored metals you have found.
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