If you are on the lookout for platinum – and you should be because, at the time of writing this post, the precious metal is currently trading for $1,334 per Troy Ounce – you should be looking for small items of jewelry that are made of the metal. 

You can find several kinds of platinum jewelry at estate sales, junk shops, and even in the places where you store jewelry in your home. 

What kinds of small pieces of jewelry are most likely to be made of platinum? Some examples include: 

With platinum currently trading for $940.00 on the London Fix, it is a metal you should definitely not overlook as you make your plans as a precious metal investor. 

But where can you find platinum scrap that we can recycle for you? Let’s review four of the best kinds of platinum scrap you should be focusing on. 

We have written about sputtering targets before on the Specialty Metals Blog. To review, they are multilayered disks that contain several different metals. When they are secured  inside a plasma plating tank and electrical current flows through them, their uppermost layer of metal (be it gold, platinum, or another metal) is dispersed into the plasma inside the tank.  Due to the flow of electrons, it adheres to the surface of whatever metal object is being plated.

It’s easy to junk a car. You call a local company that runs ads that say, “We buy cars” and they come and tow your car away.

Yes, that’s easy. But if you dispose of your old car that way, chances are good you will be giving away gold, silver and other valuable materials that can be worth $100.00 or more. So . . . pull them out before you junk that car and talk to us about recycling them.

Today, we would like to point out some steps that the smartest investors take to safeguard their investments – and to simply make more money.

Ready? Let’s get going.

You probably think that you know everything there is to know about recycling valuable scrap and getting a nice big payout. You probably already know that . . .

• You can recycle gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and even platinum family metals and rhodium. Call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 and we will tell you how.

• You can recycle used batteries that contain lithium, nickel, and cadmium.

• You can even reclaim rare earth metals from touch screens in tablets, laptops, and phones.

But There Is a New Recyclable in Town

We hope you made a lot of money in 2020 by having us test and recycle your silver, gold and even platinum scrap. But as you have noticed, a new year is dawning, so we would like to remind you that there is money to be made – sometimes a great deal of money – by investing in these additional forms of precious metal scrap.

It’s been hard or impossible to travel during the coronavirus pandemic. How frustrated have you been?

Chances are you have been eager to travel again. But frustrating as it has been, we all need to remember that even though we have not been able to travel much in the last four or five months, we have still been able to continue buying, refining and selling gold scrap, silver scrap, and platinum scrap too.

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus crisis has changed everything. It has changed the way we connect with other people, shop, work, enjoy our free time, and much more.

So it only stands to reason that the crisis has changed the way we invest, and profit from, precious metals. But the funny thing is, not everything has changed. Gold scrap, silver scrap, platinum scrap and certain other investments were smart investments before the pandemic struck – and they are still good investments today. But how can you determine which forms of those scrap investments will yield the biggest return today? How can you make the smartest picks among all the precious metal investments that are available right now?

Let’s say you have come across something that is made of white metal – a ring, a cigarette case, a laboratory crucible – and you would like to know what it is made of. It could be white gold, silver, or platinum. So, how can you tell for sure what you are looking at?

In the days following World War II, army surplus yards opened in many parts of the country, selling all kinds of items that had been manufactured for the U.S. war effort. All sorts of items showed up – hats, coats, uniforms, tarpaulins, tents, and even some decommissioned “souvenir” hand grenades. There were even opportunities to buy electronic devices like field radios that contained small amounts of gold.

Is nostalgia standing between you and a lot of money?

We apologize if that question is rude, or of we are being impolite by asking it. But the fact is that many people are losing money (or delaying getting it) by remaining stuck in the past.

A few years ago, a man looked down at the bottom of a stream in northern California and saw something shiny poking out from the sand and gravel that surrounded it. He pulled it out and it was a gold nugget. It was absolutely beautiful!

Have you ever shopped online for miniature safes and other “safe spots” where you can hide gold, silver, platinum and other small valuables in your home?

If you have, you know that the variety of products you will discover is nothing short of amazing. When we did some online shopping recently, here are some of the products we discovered . . .

“I’ve got a stack of old air conditioners,” a caller told us recently. “They contain precious metals that you can extract and recycle for me, right?”

Where to Find Precious Metals in Your Local Junkyard

Where can you find platinum scrap, gold, and other precious metals in your local automotive scrapyard? Here’s a guide.

We have previously written on this blog about all kinds of collectibles that can contain gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals. We’ve explored canes and walking sticks, barware, smoker’s accessories, buttons and medals, and lots more. Today, we’d like to direct your attention to another investment that should be on your radar... Boxes that contain precious metals.

People are collecting folding pocket knives, hunting knives, highly stylized custom knives crafted by skilled artisans, ancient knives, and knives that fall into other niches. The question is, do any of them contain silver or gold? The short answer is yes, they do and if you take a close look at an unusual knife, it could contain small decorations and “extras” that are made of silver or even gold or platinum. 

Here’s a video that shows how a new robot that Apple designed can pull apart an iPhone and separate out its parts. For reasons we do not know, Apple named this robot Liam. According to Apple, just one Liam robot can recycle 1.2 million iPhones a year.

Many people who collect precious metals fail to recognize platinum when they see it. They come across an old ring or other white metal item at an estate sale or antique store, assume that it is made of silver, and pass it by. With platinum trading at about $1,000/oz. at the time of this post, and silver at only about $16, that is a very costly mistake to make. Let’s take a look at some of the common misconceptions about platinum that could cause you to miss it.