If you live in most parts of the country, you’re not supposed to leave your house, except to go to the food store or pharmacy. If that’s been your situation for more than a few days, chances are that you are itching to do something productive and energizing.

So we have a suggestion for you – and one that could be not only interesting but profitable . . .

We recently overheard a friend say, “I attended a wedding reception at a catering facility last week and, for the first time in my life, I used gold-plated flatware. Wow, that stuff must have been worth a fortune.”

Those gold-plated forks, knives and spoons were doing exactly what the catering hall wanted them to do, which was to add a luxurious flourish to the dining experience. Gold conveys a very exciting sense of luxury, just as it has for thousands of years.

Who near you buys gold-filled jewelry, gold-plated jewelry, solid-gold jewelry, gold scrap and other gold items? 

Those questions might be the first to come to mind when you have gold items that you want to sell. But did you know that there are other, more important questions?

Recently, a man wanted to sell some old gold filled jewelry that he had inherited from an elderly aunt. There were actually quite a few items - a bracelet, a few old rings, a necklace with a pendant attached, a small decorative pin, and a few other items. So the man put all those items in a Manila envelope, got in his car, and drove to a store that displayed the sign, “We Buy Gold.”

Don’t Overlook Gold-Plated Items

When most of us go looking for gold items to recycle, we look first for solid gold items, and with good reason. Even very small items made of karat gold can contain enough gold to make them worth a lot more than they appear – small items like stud earrings, tuxedo studs, lapel pins, tie tacks, and religious and commemorative medals.

What is the difference between an item that is gold filled and one that is gold plated?

That question confuses many people. But after you read today’s post, you will know the difference and be a smarter gold investor. Please read on.

We have watched stories about it on Fox News and other news channels. We have read about it in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. 

What are we talking about? We are talking about the fact that flooding in California has exposed veins of gold that have been hidden for decades. Some of these hidden deposits of gold were apparently not discovered during the famous gold rush of 1849. And now, a lot of prospectors who have heard the news about a new gold rush are heading to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to pan for gold in streams. Some of them are reportedly using more than pans to look for gold; they are bringing in sophisticated equipment to look for it.

We haven’t written about drones on this blog for several years. In the time since, some things have stayed the same in the world of drones, and some things haven’t.

When you go looking for gold, you will usually find items that contain very small quantities of it. You might find a picture frame that is covered with gold leaf, a printed circuit board that has gold-covered contact pins, or a pair of gold-plated eyeglass frames.

We have written in the past about the importance of thoroughly inspecting old pieces of furniture before you sell them or toss them away.

A recent news story from England serves as an important reminder of how valid that advice is.

There are many legends about people who decided to hide their treasures in wells. One of the most common tales is that at the end of the Civil War, wealthy southern families tossed their silverware down their wells to prevent roaming Yankees from finding it.

You go looking for gold and . . . you find some! Maybe you go to an antique store and find a piece of jewelry that looks like pure, shiny gold, but you find out later that it is only covered with a thin gold plating. Or you discover a gold nugget and find out that it is only a cheap collectible that has been created to look like the real thing, but isn’t.

If you want to spend a day hunting for precious metal discoveries, you could visit antique stores, dumpsters, your town dump, or an abandoned factory.

Not long ago, we had a call from a man who had bought a box of 16 rolls of gold-plated jewelry chain at an auction where the assets of a closed jewelry manufacturer were being sold to the public. “I weighed the box,” he told us, “it weighs about 12 pounds . . . so what is it worth?”

Gold is a heavy element. A chunk of gold is, in fact, more than seven times heavier than a piece of marble or even granite of the same size. And when gold is in a natural setting, it can be more than 25 times heavier than the sand or soil that surrounds it.

Are airplanes great places to look for gold, silver and other precious metals? Granted, the mechanical and electronics that planes hold often contain amounts elements of gold, platinum and silver. But tons of gold? Why would any plane contain that much precious metal?

Tariffs, Trade Wars, Shrinking Tech . . .What’s the best way to invest in scrap gold today?

We have to admit, we have never seen a period when it has been so difficult to pinpoint the biggest trends that will affect the prices of gold. In the past, there were periods of uncertainty when it was possible to consider just one trend, see how it was probably going to affect domestic gold prices, and formulate an investment strategy. You could say, for example, “Looks like trade relations with China are going to be rough for a while, there could be fewer gold crossing borders, so the price of gold that is already in the U.S. is probably going to rise.”

Where to find hidden gold and other valuables under fake bottoms

Over the years, people have devised some very clever ways to hide valuables. They have buried jewel boxes in their yards, painted diamonds black to disguise them, stashed gold under floorboards, and hidden jewelry in hollowed-out banisters and behind loose bricks in the basement.

Bling has been around for centuries. Marie Antoinette, members of the Russian Imperial family and all kinds of royals from past ages have loved to adorn themselves with shiny, oversized pieces of jewelry. They were apparently trying to send a message that said, “I can afford this stuff, you can’t, I am richer than you are, and you better be impressed.”

Do you have gold, silver and other precious metals that you would like to store safely away? If so, what are your most secure and loss-proof options?

In today’s post, we’ll discuss some of the popular storage places people choose for precious metals and explore what is good and bad about them.