Bought silver and found gold

[billjustbill]

Not much to start with at a 7:00 a.m. garage sale Saturday morning....but at another I found a 3.2 gram sterling ring for a quarter

Then, to one side of a small round breakfast table, at an estate sale in an up-scale part of town this morning, there were two 10x12" boxes stacked with those old style thin sandwich bags with jewelry inside. The old kind of baggie that had a pocket that folded over and closed the baggie. Because they are so thin, several bags were inside each other for strength, and inside had unknown pieces of jewelry. The baggies were twisted at the top and taped shut. Each piece of sealed masking tape was marked. Some at $5, a few $7.50, and five bags were marked $12.

...."Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn now and then." and I found several.....

As I tried to look through the layers of plastic, making the view of the contents somewhat fuzzy/cloudy... I could see large coins scattered among the $12 bags... I could see it stamped "Christmas 1997". With my pocket magnifier, it read "Merry Christmas" on one side and "Peace on Earth, 1997" in large letters. Below that, in small letters it reads: "HM, One Troy Ounce .999 Fine Silver"

With a "Fish"story like this, there are the photos to show what came out of the sandwich baggies.... ;>)

So, I bought the five $12 bags, and one $5 bag for a total of $65.
Within those bags of silver, I found solid gold jewelry sprinkled throughout three of the five bags!!

Among the silver, I found a GOLD 22" thin necklace stamped 14kt. a 10k gold ring with pale rubies, and a 10kt gold tennis bracelet with thirty-six 10-pt. diamonds....

All the rest above the bottom row, I assume is costume jewelry, as I couldn't find any silver markings but had names like Monet, Napier, and including Tommy Hilfiger. All those things combined would likely sell and add about $10-$15.

Here is what was in those bags that cost $65......

On the bottom row is all silver: 103.2 grams of .999 fine silver rounds, 64.7 grams of .925 sterling. Worth $94.78

Left half Close-up: Only the jewelry marked as silver is along the bottom row.
The large coin-size rounds weigh 32+ grams of .999 silver.

Close-up of right half of bottom row has two rings stacked on top of each other.

The last picture shows the thin 14kt gold necklace that has a broken clasp, weighs 3.2 grams, and the 10kt. ruby ring , 2 grams, and a
10kt Diamond Tennis Bracelet weighing 13.9 grams including the thirty-five 10pt diamonds.... The bracelet and diamonds weigh 13.9 grams

All Three of the gold pieces are Worth $320.59, not including the diamonds.

Total of silver and gold came out to $ 415.13 less 10% charge of the refiner.
The 3.5 carat diamond tennis bracelet of 10kt gold could be sold by itself...
Ebay's prices are eye-opening

[Digz]

Way to go!! Awesome finds ~ & smart shopping!

[cyberdan]

there were two 10x12" boxes stacked with those old style thin sandwich bags with jewelry inside. The old kind of baggie that had a pocket that folded over and closed the baggie. Because they are so thin, several bags were inside each other for strength, and inside had unknown pieces of jewelry.

Don't you just hate that. Jewelry sealed or stapled inside things. I know it is for seller security but it really is hard to tell what is inside. What is worse is when those baggies are then pinned to a display and they can't even be picked up.

The people should just have them in a case and have someone get them as needed and never leave that spot. I have had people tell me they had gold stolen when they turned their back and the chains were pinned to a display. That really gives us honest buyers a bad reputation.

[billjustbill]

Thanks, Cyber'

The second day of this estate sale, when we went back, the fellow said they had so much stuff stolen. In an outside building, there were big items like tools that were outright stolen and carried off when the owners were not looking....

I was wondering if you find silver jewelry from foreign countries that show no silver markings?

In the "garage sale" forum picture of what all I found in those plastic bags, there is a set of fish earrings. On the back is stamped: "Made in France" There is no sign of a silver content marking.

What would you see on silver jewelry for marking it's base metal content?

Thanks

[cyberdan]

What would you see on silver jewelry for marking it's base metal content?

World wide, precious metals jewelry makers want you to know they used real gold/silver and mark it that way (eg: 925, sterling, PT, 12K, 14K,750,500 ect) those that want you to think they used PMs use tricky words (eg: German silver, Alapca, fake hallmarks that look foreign) or just plane buy an $8 punch that says 14K.

[trdhrdr007]

That's a pretty nice score. Have you checked the posts or wires on the earrings? Sometimes they are marked there instead of on the earring itself.

[scrounger d detector collector]

all i ever find at yard sales is baby clothes. eech

[Darshevo]

You and me both scrounger, baby clothes and broken plastic toys.

-Lance

[cyberdan]

all i ever find at yard sales is baby clothes. eech

and Depends and old used underwear with women actually picking them up to see if they fit.

[Nashoba]

Now that is finding the right stuff at the right time.
Excellent job and wonderful finds.

~Nash~