Precious Metals » scrap

Old gold

Administrator — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:56:21 +0000

This is a great blog post by the folks at Mardon Jeweler’s in Riverside, CA. It has a perfect example/explanation of why we never use “old gold” in our work, but use recycled gold in every piece we make. While re-using gold from your old jewelry to make new pieces sounds both practical and romantic, it actually can be more costly (in the long run) than if you sell your old pieces for scrap and make the new piece from clean recycled metal.

All that glitters

Administrator — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:48:40 +0000

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2010/03/05/all_that_glitters_may_not_be_cash/

Great article about selling gold. While Precious Metals buys gold, we will ALWAYS tell you exactly what we pay per pennyweight and will convert that to a per gram price if you request. We will break it down to the exact percentage that we pay (63%). Which mean that if the market value of the earrings in the article is $14.64, we would pay $9.23. That is more than what the dealers in the article pay, but more importantly, if the earrings were brand new (the examples in the article were just purchased) we would have advised you not to sell them as scrap! Never sell a piece of wearable jewelry as scrap unless you are desperate or have exhausted other options. Selling jewelry on e-bay or at a consignment store will allow you to get money for the workmanship and wearablity of the gold along with it’s market value as a precious metal. We also do metal exchanges. Say you have some 14K gold chains, and you want us to make a 14K gold ring. We will use the weight of your metal towards the weight of the metal in the new piece less ten percent. So essentially you are getting 90% of the value of the gold back.

Bottom line, do your research. Get quotes, and if you aren’t getting clear answers, don’t waste your time.

Selling your gold: What determins the price?

Administrator — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:38:12 +0000

So you have some gold, and you call a few places to see what they are paying. My my post Shopping around has some information about the units (grams or pennyweights) that most gold buyers use and how to convert between the two. It also talks about gold content in the different carats, which is a factor in the price. But the main thing that determines price is the current market price for gold or spot gold price. Gold buyers will use that number to determine how much they pay. If they are a legitimate buyer, when the spot price goes up, so does what they will pay per pennyweight or gram, even if the jump in price is only a few dollars. If they quote you the same per unit price when gold is at $950 per troy ounce and at $900 per troy ounce, do not sell to them. Keep in mind that this is a competitive market, and you should be getting more money (even if it’s not much more) when the gold price is higher, period.

You can get current, and by that I mean up to the minute, gold prices at www.kitco.com. There is also an application that you can set up on your Google home page that will show you the current price anytime you access Google. The price will update every two to five minutes. It is best to check the price online through a site that will give you a current price, not just yesterday’s closing price. Gold can close one day at $900 and by noon the next day be at $870 or $960. That price is for pure or 24 karat gold per troy Ounce. A troy ounce is 10% heavier than a regular ounce. If you were to take a troy ounce of gold to the grocery store and put it on their butchers scale or to the post office and on a postage scale, it will weigh about 1.1 avoirdupois ounces. Once you start watching the gold price daily or hourly, you’ll see that it changes very, very quickly. It only takes a little time each day to watch for the price to increase, so that you get more for your gold.
Precious Metals will hold gold prices for you if you come in and get your gold sorted and weighed. Once we have a detailed record of what you have, if you watch the market and call when the price is what you want to sell at, we’ll hold that price for you for 48 hours. For example, you come in and have 10 pennyweights of 14K and gold is at $915. You keep your gold, and when the market reaches a number you like, let’s say $950, you call give us your name and amount of gold (10 dwt 14k) and we will pay you at $950 for the next 48 hours, even if gold drops to $850 in the next 10 hours. If you don’t come in within 48 hours, you lose the hold on the price. If you don’t call ahead, we only pay out at the current price. If for some reason you have more gold or less gold that when you came in before, and we have to do more sorting and testing, we pay at the current price. Keep in mind that a $10 jump in price will only amount to about an extra 17 cents for each pennyweight of 14K. So for that 10 pennyweights it is only an extra $1.70. But if you have 60 pennyweights or gold goes up by $100, those cents can start to add up.

Next in our Selling your gold series: Is now a good time? What if I don’t want to sell it, can you make something with my old gold?

Selling Gold. Part One of Four.

Administrator — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:48:48 +0000

We buy gold at Precious Metals, and we get a lot of questions about the whole process. The nightly news is talking about how to sell your gold and showing hidden camera investigations. There are ads for mail-in services playing on every TV channel, and many jewelry stores have signs in their windows saying “We buy gold!” and “Highest Prices Paid!”. So, I’m going to break down the whole process in a series of posts.

What are you selling?

First of all, before you go to sell your gold you should have some idea of what it is that you are selling. If you take your jewelry to a pawn shop, consignment store, or estate jewelry store, you can sell your jewelry as jewelry. The price is determined by both the value of the materials as well as the workmanship or labor that went into producing the piece. If you take your jewelry to a store that proclaims “We Buy Gold!” like Precious Metals Sudbury, you are selling your jewelry as scrap metal. I don’t care if your jewelry has never been worn or has been run over by a car; it is all scrap to me. I don’t care if it is your class ring or an earring you found on the street, it all gets melted down. The price is determined by the pure gold content and the current price of gold.
All of this means two things.
1. If you have nice jewelry, pieces that have little wear and are stylish, you should not sell them for scrap. Sell them on E-Bay or Craigslist (Remember to be safe! Meet in public and cash only.) or your local consignment store. Let’s say you have a nice necklace with a little precious stone in it or a gold bracelet from Tiffany & Co., the scrap price will typically be less than half of what you could get selling it on E-bay. This is especially true for brand name jewelry. ANYTHING by Yurmin, Tiffany & Co., Judith Ripka, or any other big name designer is worth trying to sell as jewelry.
2. You don’t have to know the exact weight and gold content of your pieces, but you should have realistic expectations. With the market hovering around $900 per troy ounce, the average 14K gold wedding band will fetch $20 to $70 at scrap pricing. There just isn’t that much gold in one small to mid-sized ring, especially when you take into account that the ring is only part gold. 14 Karat gold (which is the most common karat in the U.S) is 14 parts pure gold and 10 parts other metal (copper and nickel). You will only get paid for the gold. 14 Karat is 58.3% gold, just over half. 10 Karat gold is only 41.7% gold, less than half. Is your mother’s wedding band really only worth $30? In gold scrap, yes, in your mind, probably not. Don’t sell anything that you can’t part with, because the money will never cover the loss of a family heirloom. And, don’t think that by waiting for gold prices to go higher you will get way more money. If your ring is $30 at $900/oz, even if gold goes up to $1400, you are still only going to get around $50 or $60. Chances are, if you have trouble parting with it at $30, you’ll have trouble at $60, and you just shouldn’t sell it. I can’t pay you for your sentiment, and once you sell it, your memories are gone.

Next….Shopping around and what determines price?