Silver plate is usually on a copper alloy, such as brass. On plated silverware, the base metal is often a white copper alloy, such as nickel silver (which, regardless of its name, actually contains no silver). Silver is usually plated from 50 to 100 millionths of an inch thick, which has a...
An old standard way is the Parkes process (Google). I think it was used extensively in Mexico. In general terms (the actual process is more complicated and requires specialized equipment), the lead is melted and some zinc is stirred in. The zinc collects the gold and silver and comes to the top...
The guy in the article has done things pretty well and he gave it a good shot. I don't care much for the potato thing, though. You can buy a jeweler's melting dish for about $4.
I see 3 things or statements that I would question:
---A propane torch without oxygen isn't hot enough to melt gold...
I also researched this and found that QQ-S-561D, as your material is marked, has nothing to do with the silver content. That is an old Federal Specification number category that includes all sorts of brazing alloys. The Class 4, as your material is also marked, under this spec would denote the...
Rhodium plating, when used on this type application, is a thin, hard, shiny, durable, whitish, metallic protective coating mainly used to prevent tarnish of the base metal. Due to stress problems with thicker deposits, it is usually only about .000005" - .000030" thick, more or less. That's...
For jewelry refining, this book can't be beat, even though it was written 71 years ago. This is the best price you'll find for this book. Everywhere else, it's about $20 more. Includes a lot on the platinum group metals also.
http://www.gesswein.com/p-3263-refining-precious-metal-wastes.aspx
I see no silver. The shiny areas look like highlighted iron or steel (or other base metal) to me. Have you tested it for silver? You didn't mention silver to start with.
Well, jimmyandvelda, you surely are in the wrong place to make this post, or the arrowhead post. I guess you didn't notice that this category involves precious metals. Since neither of your posts involve precious metals, I would suggest that you make your posts in the appropriate category.
Assuming that the gold is 1/2K lower than it was marked, which is fairly common, you paid about 88% of spot, at a $1200 market. If you sell it to ARA for 98%, and all goes well, you profit about $21 less your shipping costs. I think I would try to pay less - maybe 60 or 70%. Did you test the gold?
I've always operated under the philosophy that the faster you turn the scrap (no matter what the market price is - it is what it is), the more deals you can make and the more deals you make, the more money you make. No one knows what the future will bring. I never liked sitting on anything.
Cyberdan's numbers are exactly what I came up with for a $1195 spot price. His refining figure is 2%, so I assume he would use aragold.com. Before about 1980, it was legal to use karat gold that was 1/2K lower than it was marked. I would think that most watch cases were made before 1980. It...
scrounger,
You have, by far, the most annoying avatar I've ever seen. Is your purpose in life just to annoy people? If so, you have succeeded. Moving avatars are always dreadful, but yours takes the prize. Once I see that you have posted on a thread, I avoid that thread like the plague. I just...
This is a controversial topic and there's a lot of BS on the internet. Listings on Ebay are probably the worst source of truthful information on the planet. Although many hard drive disks contain Pt, the amount is very small (a few atoms thick). According to this source (the only one I could...
cw0909 ,
None of the gold plating on most any electronic component is 10K, 14K, or 18K. The only exception I've seen is a Au/Pd alloy that was used for plating reed switches. I'm sure there are other rare exceptions, but these certainly don't include the parts in the photos. The plating on the...
hunz,
That's the first time I've heard of any complaints about ARA.
I refined gold and silver professionally for over 40 years and know that gold is rarely what it is stamped. One karat under is not unusual. At least 1/2K under is the norm. If it was made before 1980, the pieces could legally...
Think again. I spent several years of my life specializing in PM recovery from certain jet engine scrap, on a large professional level - think semi loads. The jet engine parts, if any, that contain 82/18, Au/Ni (NiOro) braze can be some of the richest gold scrap on the planet. For example, some...
There's no free lunch, especially when it comes to precious metals. A couple of years ago, when the goldrefiningforum.com first started, there were many members who bought those vials (or, in some cases, 100 gram boxes) on Ebay and expected big profits. In every case that I can remember, the...