My
butcher pulled me aside last fall, while I was in his shop dropping off a deer
for processing. He had a gold ring with a diamond mounted in the center. He
asked me what it was worth? I own a jewelry store and told him I would take it
to the store, weigh it, and give him a price. He explained that a woman came in
for some meat and couldn’t pay; she gave him the ring to hold with the promise
to come back and pay him the $60 that she owed within the next week. It had
been a few months, and she never came back. He was afraid that she had duped
him.
I
weighed the ring and measured the diamond. The next day I called and told him I
would give him $130 for the ring. He gladly agreed, and I paid him cash less
the price of the venison. It worked out very well for him, but he could have
taken a few steps to better ensure he didn’t get cheated.
You
may imagine trading in junk silver, food, and ammo in a post-apocalyptic world.
Maybe that will work out okay for you, but millions of people haven’t put aside
silver and gold coins, ammo, or food to use for trade. These folks will
probably have jewelry and sterling silver items to use as trade. People are
trading their old jewelry and silverware that they never use anymore right now,
while the economy is in bad shape but still running. If the economy collapses,
or falls even further than it has, even more people will need to get something
useful from their metal.
The
scenario I shared in opening the article is becoming more common every day. You
might say that you just wouldn’t do it, because it’s not worth the hassle and
risk of trading in people’s jewelry. That’s fine; you can stop reading now. For
the rest of you, some basic equipment and knowledge of simple math is all that
is needed.
Determining
Metal Content
Look
for stamping
The
first thing to do when trading for old jewelry or silverware is determine the
karat or “fineness” of the piece. Most pieces are stamped. A 10x jeweler’s
loupe
makes reading quality marks easier. (They are available for under $20; just be
sure to get one that is “fully corrected”.) “Fineness” is simply a percentage of
precious metal in the piece. For example, 585 fine is 58.5% precious metal.
“Fine” metal is pure; fine gold is 99.9% or 99.99% gold. Here is a list of
common karat marks in U.S. jewelry:
·
10k
(41.67%)
·
14k
(58.33%)
·
14kP(58.33%)*
·
18k
(75.0%)
·
Ster
(92.5%)**
·
416
(fineness 41.6% gold)
·
585
(fineness 58.5% gold)
·
750
(fineness 75.0% gold)
·
925
(fineness 92.5% silver)
·
900pt
(fineness 90.0% platinum)
·
950pt
(fineness 95.0% platinum)
Other
markings seen on metalwork are often maker’s marks (hallmarks). Things to stay
away from are stampings that say “GF” often with a fraction of 1/20 or 1/12.
This is gold filled and should not be given any metal value. “GE” of “HGE” are
gold electroplate or heavy gold electroplate; there is no metal value in these.
Old pieces sometimes are stamped “rolled gold plate”; again, there is no metal
value. Also, stay away from anything that says “XXXXX Silver”. These are nickel
silver. Often the stamp will say “German Silver” or “Mexican Silver”, but I’ve
seen many other names in front of the silver stamp. There is no silver in
these.
*The
“P” after karat weight doesn’t stand for “plated”; it stands for “plumb”, as in
exact.
**Sterling
silver legally can be as low as 91.5% silver.
Verify
metal content
Never
trust the quality stamp, as there are way too many fakes out there. Some fakes
are easy to spot. I had a bracelet in the shop yesterday that was stamped 14k.
The plating was flaking off, and the color of the gold wasn’t right. It was
sterling silver stamped 14k and plated. That one was easy to spot, but there
are some good fakes out there. Also, be aware that gold can be alloyed to make
just about any color including white, red, green, and blue. You will need, at
the very least, acid for testing the metal. It should be noted that no test
will tell the exact metal content of the piece, except a destructive assay.
Aqua
regia is a time tested method for testing precious metals. To make aqua regia,
mix one part nitric acid to three parts hydrochloric acid. If this isn’t
something you are comfortable with, don’t worry; there are other methods of
testing metals. To test with aqua regia, file a spot on the piece. (It doesn’t
take much, just enough to remove any plating– usually one or two swipes with a
needle file.) Put a drop of acid on the spot you just filed. If the spot starts
to bubble and turn green, it’s a fake. Sterling silver will turn a cloudy cream
color. Aqua regia should be washed off of anything it touches with lots of
water.
Acid
test kits
are available. You can buy acids pre-mixed to dissolve common fineness of gold.
Usually kits come with 10k, 14k, and 18k acids, and a streak plate or
touchstone. A kit can be put together for under $30. Use is pretty simple.
Rub the piece on the stone to leave a
streak of metal.
Rub a piece of known 14 karat gold on
the stone. (Your wedding band would work, if it is 14k gold.) Try to use the
same color of gold, if possible.
Apply a drop of each type of acid to the
metal streaks.
Compare how the metal in the 14k streak
reacts vs. the unknown streak.
If it dissolves under the 10k acid, it
is fake or very low karat; if it dissolves under the 14k acid, it is 10k; if
under the 18k acid, it is 14k, et cetera.
Electronic
testers are available, too. They are expensive and unnecessary. The ones I’ve
used have worked well, but nothing is foolproof except an assay done by a
refinery.
Silver
can be tested with these acids, too. I advise you use the acid on some sterling
and coin silver to see how it reacts. Compare this reaction to nickel silver. A
rare
earth (Niodymium) magnet is a must for testing silver. They can be bought
locally at a tool or electronics store for a couple of dollars. There are many
videos out there showing how the magnet drags on silver, without immediately
falling off, which it does on many other metals. Get one and experiment with
how the magnet works on different metals.
Weigh
the piece
You
will need a scale for this; there
is no way around it and no substitute that I am aware of. The scale doesn’t
have to cost a fortune. If you are a reloader, a grain scale works very well. A
word of caution: Metals are weighed using TROY WEIGHT, not avoirdupois weight.
If you have an avoirdupois scale, multiply avoir. Multiply avoirdupois ounces
by .91146 to get troy ounces. Below is a chart of common conversions needed in
weighing metals.
|
Change From:
|
To:
|
Multiply by:
|
|
Grams
|
pennyweight
|
.64301
|
|
Grams
|
oz troy
|
.03215
|
|
Pennyweight
|
gram
|
1.5552
|
|
Pennyweight
|
oz troy
|
.05
|
|
Oz troy
|
pennyweight
|
20
|
|
Oz troy
|
gram
|
31.1035
|
|
Grain
|
pennyweight
|
.0417
|
|
Grain
|
gram
|
.0648
|
|
Karat
|
grain
|
3.08647
|
|
Karat
|
pennyweight
|
.1286
|
|
Karat
|
gram
|
.2
|
Finding
the Value
Now
that we have a weight and a metal quality, multiply the weight by the
percentage of precious metal in the piece. If a ring weighs 6.4dwt
(pennyweight) and is determined to be 14k (58.33%), take 6.4 x .5833 =
3.73312dwt of fine gold. Then, convert 3.73312dwt to troy ounces by multiplying
it by .05 to get .186656 ozt.
Now,
find out what gold is going for. There are numerous websites that will give you
metal prices updated by the minute. Coininfo.com is the one I use, but any of
them will work. If gold is $1300/ozt, multiply .18665 x 1300 = 242.65.
Therefore, the gold content in this ring is, at that time, valued at $242.65.
Making
an Offer
Now
that we know what the market value is of the gold, it’s time to make an offer.
You can’t offer $242.65 for the above ring; here is why. You have to get rid of
the ring to get money for it. You can send it to a refinery to be melted down
and the refinery will write you a check or send you bullion in trade. You won’t
get $242.65. You could take it to a local jeweler, coin shop, or pawn shop (GOD
forbid), and see what they will give you for it; it won’t be $242.65.
Alternatively, you can offer it for sale or trade at a swap meet, flea market,
or in a classified ad. If you paid full price and then resell it, you could
probably make some money on it, but you will need to hold onto it until someone
wants it.
Always
assume you will need to send it to a refinery or sell it to a coin/jewelry
store. If you send your metal to a refinery, they will pay up to 95-96% of
market, minus shipping. Local buyers will generally pay between 10% and 80% of
market value. If you deal locally, shop around for the best deal.
If
you are dealing with a refinery there are some things you should be aware of.
First, it isn’t worth sending metal to a refinery unless you have a bunch of
it, and the more you have the better return you will get. Most refineries have
a payment schedule listed on their website explaining what fees and percentages
are charged and paid. Also, you will probably need a business. Refineries don’t
want to deal with the public. You will need to fill out an
anti-money-laundering form, stating that you aren’t a criminal. Some refineries
will hold your metal until you tell them to cash it out– generally, when the
market hits a point you like.
Now
back to making an offer. Along with the problem of getting rid of the piece,
you need to worry about the metals market dropping. You can’t pay full price at
$1300/ozt and then sell for 95% of a market that has dropped to $1250/ozt.
What
if that 14k ring is really 13.4k? Simple testers won’t pick up a few tenths of
a karat difference. In fact, legal regulations allow any gold piece with solder
in it to be under-karated slightly, and if you are trading a lot in metals, a
fake will slip by once in a while.
Sometimes,
there are stones in jewelry– a crystal in an old watch. Sterling silverware is
often filled with plaster or wax. So just determining the exact precious metal
weight of a piece is often not possible.
I
won’t tell you what percentage to offer. That is something you can decide on
your own. I will say that you should offer 10-15% less market just to cover
your butt against the above problems.
Here
are some refineries I’ve used in the past with good results: Hoover and Strong, Maguire Strickland, Stebgo,
and North American Metals.
Things
to Watch Out For
In
the U.S., gold below 10k can’t be stamped gold. However, there is a bunch of
8-9k gold out there– mostly from south of the border. Buy at your own risk.
You
may come across 20-22k gold, as it is sometimes seen. It has a very rich color
and comes from Europe and Asia, mostly.
A
magnet will tell if the piece is steel; use it on every piece. If it sticks,
it’s fake.
Platinum
can be a little difficult to identify, if you haven’t played with it before.
Platinum is heavy and soft. It is also very tenacious; it doesn’t like to be
removed from itself. Drag a file across a piece of platinum, and it will bite
and move with unexpected difficulty.
Silverware,
candlesticks, bowls, and cups can be problematic. The bases of most of these
are weighted with wax or shellac, and silver knives have steel blades and
hollow handles that are filled with plaster. Getting a weight on these is
impossible without destroying them. Spoons and forks are usually solid
sterling. If it says “silverplate” or isn’t stamped “sterling”, it isn’t real.
What
do you do with the gemstones in jewelry? I wouldn’t offer any money for stones
in jewelry. Can you tell a cubic zirconia from a diamond? A synthetic from a
real sapphire? What if the stone is scratched? How much can you sell the stones
for and to whom will you sell them? I would offer to give the stones back if
the seller wants them and they are easily removed. Prongs can be pulled back
with fingernail clippers, if you are careful. Just always let the seller know
there is a risk of breaking the stone upon removal.
If
metal isn’t stamped, that doesn’t mean it isn’t gold or silver. Jewelry is
often repaired, and in repairing (especially rings) the quality mark is
removed.
I’m
sure I don’t have to say this for anyone here, but if you are dealing with this
kind of stuff on the street, be careful.
One
day an opportunity may come your way involving “junk” precious metals. I hope
this article gives you the confidence to profit from the situation.
From the Survival Blog
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