If you’re about to fly across international borders and go through customs when you land, how much gold can you carry with you?

We have written on this blog about recovering gold from sources like printed circuit boards, cell phones, remote-control devices, and digital cameras.

Today, let’s look at other sources of recyclable gold scrap that you might have overlooked.

We just read a terrific article, “50 Metal Detecting Tips that Find Gold,” on the Discover Detecting blog. It’s jam-packed with great advice on how to use a metal detector to find much more gold on every outing you make.

Whether you’re new to metal detecting or an experienced user, you will want to read this article, which contains advice from experts who really know the ins and outs of using detectors. Here are some of the tips and insights from the post – some of them unusual – that can dramatically improve your experience as a user of a detector.

Where should you turn for advice if you have gold or gold scrap you would like to sell?

Here are some options, with our expert advice on how and when to use them.

Small Pocket-Size Gold Testing Kits

These small, pocketable kits are widely available. They have a small abrasive stone and several small squeeze bottles that contain testing fluid. You rub the piece of gold or scrap you want to test on the stone, squeeze some testing fluid onto it, and get a quick reading on whether the item you are testing contains gold, and in what karat (purity) rating.

Over the years, people have created a story – dare we say a myth – that it is possible to reclaim gold from plants and animals.

That legend usually goes something like this . . .

“The plants and animals that live around natural sources of gold like gold-containing streams and old gold mines absorb quantities of gold. If you harvest sufficient quantities of material from them, they contain gold that can be profitably recycled.”

Gold was trading at about $1,300 in 2018. Today, the price is more than $1,900. Those are the facts. Yet what do they mean if you are someone who likes to invest in gold? Are prices about to level off, rise even higher . . . or fall?

Conspiracy theories seem to crop up about topics and celebrities that people find fascinating.

• JFK? He didn’t really die . . . and conspiracy theorists know he is coming back.

• The walk on the moon? . . . it never really happened.

• The world’s money supply? . . . it’s all controlled by a secret society that’s headquartered in Switzerland or under the Great Pyramid.

Okay, you can doubtless add more conspiracy theories to that ridiculous list. But we want to add some others of our own to it. They are all conspiracy theories, or at least crazy theories, about gold.

Year 2022 is shaping up to be the year when Covid-19 goes away, the year when America either rebuilds its infrastructure (or doesn’t), the year when you seriously consider buying an electric car – and lots of other big changes will happen in your life.

Another big change seems to be happening too, which is that everywhere you turn, people are talking about cryptocurrency. This seems to be the year when cryptocurrency – also known as bitcoin or bitcoins – is no longer something on the sidelines of people’s investing strategy. It has moved to center stage and people – even people who don’t know exactly what bitcoin is – are intensely interested.

A man in Delaware emailed us recently to ask, “Are there any scrap gold buyers near me?” He explained that there were plenty of companies in his area that would be happy to buy gold jewelry, bullion, and coins from him if he walked through their front doors. But nobody in his area was in the business of buying the kind of gold scrap he wanted to sell – a bunch of old circuit boards and used sputtering targets that contained gold.

The question that we chose to be the title of today’s post – “What Is the Best Part of the Country for Gold Investors to Live?” – probably seems a little puzzling to you. After all, if you invest in gold scrap (or silver scrap or platinum scrap for that matter), what difference does it make where you live? You can call our precious metal recycling advisors from wherever you live, send us your scrap. And of course, we will send your payment wherever you live.

Are you trying to figure out how much gold, silver, platinum, or other metal is contained in a small metal item you have found – a button, a little pyramid, or maybe a charm or a religious medal?

In most cases, getting a bead on how much precious metal you have is simple. You just weigh it!

“You shouldn’t just toss your old iPhone,” a friend tells you, “it contains a lot of gold.”

Your friend isn’t kidding you, because your iPhone does contain gold. But he or she is stretching the truth, because although your old iPhone does contain gold that can be reclaimed, it doesn’t contain a lot of gold. It only contains a little.

So how much? In today’s post we will answer that question, along with others that are probably on your mind. Let’s dive right in.

People think about more than corned beef and cabbage on Saint Patrick’s Day. Many communities hold parades. People think about wearing green clothing. They think about the fact that Saint Patrick, according to legend, drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Some people even think about Leprechauns, but only occasionally, because they are too busy eating corned beef and cabbage. Many people think about pots of gold that can be found at the point where rainbows touch Earth.

We don’t know whether you are a big fan of the television series Downton Abbey. But whether you love the show or not, we have noticed that it teaches some valuable lessons for those of us who profit from recycling precious metals. The creators of the show seem to have invested extra effort in historical accuracy, showing wealthy people as they really lived a century ago. Most of the lessons Downton Abbey teaches apply to recycling silver, with fewer applying to recycling gold.

All kinds of statistics get thrown around in the world of recycling precious metals. Here are some we have heard . . .

1. “Cellphones contain about two cents’ worth of gold . . . “

2. “An old cathode ray computer monitor contains a nickel’s worth of gold . . .”

3. “A ton of electronics scrap should contain about 12 ounces of gold . . .”

Because gold was cheaper in years past, it was commonly used to decorate all kinds of relatively inexpensive items that can be easy to find – and undervalued - today.

Here are some common gold-plated and gold-filled items and forms of gold scrap that are worth snapping up in today’s market.

Our precious metal recycling experts hate to disappoint any customers or callers to our toll-free number. We really do, but sometimes we have to tell those potential customers that the big, impressive-looking gold items they are calling about aren’t worth recycling.

The following tale doesn’t tell the story of something that really happened to someone we know. But it does represent a fairly typical story of someone who was not paid full value for gold he recycled.

Here’s the story . . .

A man had a pair of old 14K gold cufflinks he didn’t want any more. He walked into a local jewelry store that had a sign in its window that said, “We Buy Gold.” The jeweler behind the counter tested one of the cufflinks using a simple gold testing kit and said to the man, “These are gold.” He then took out a calculator, punched in some numbers, and told the customer, “We will pay you $90.00 for the gold these contain.” The customer accepted the offer and left the jewelry store with $90.00 in his wallet.

If you’ve watched “Raiders of the Lost Arc” recently, you know that in the movies, archaeologists seem to live dangerous and exciting lives. They lower themselves on ropes down into vast underground tombs. They pry up huge stones and squeeze into ancient burial chambers that are full of treasures.

Marie Antoinette apparently wore a lot of jewelry. When you jump ahead to our century, you see that gold has hardly lost its popularity among celebrities. A few decades ago, Mr. T of The Mod Squad wore huge gold necklaces and medals.

Although you might think that the current cancellation of big-scale social events like the Met Gala have driven celebrities indoors, current new stories reveal that today’s A-List celebrities are still wearing a lot of gold jewelry when they go out and about, even just to buy a bag of bagels on the weekend.