Just an update on the 210 lb bin of jewelry I bought.

[cyberdan]

I can still call it the good, the bad and the ugly.

I have looked at every single piece of jewelry in the top 60% of the bin.
Then I had to stop. There is about 50-60 pounds of balled up chains and necklaces. I pulled those out very carefully trying not to break any. They came out in four big clumps. i put them in some huge zip lock bags I found in the kitchen. (the size that would hold a big roast chicken)

Now I am getting to the "dregs" of the bin. About 1.5" to 2" spread out across the entire bin. These are all tiny and broken things that settled to the bottom while pulling from the top.

Look at the photos. They are all gold!!!

The gang banger grill is about 6-7 KT
The nugget is 2.9 grams
Have not done and thing to the caps and crowns except test a few. A couple tested as junk. Several tested higher than 18 KT more like platinum but I do not know if "teeth" were ever made out of that.

 

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[dw171]

Most dental gold is 16k but depending on age it might be less. Newer ones are lower karat. Platinum and palladium are commonly mixed in so it's very possible that it is platinum.

 

[bill from lachine]

cyberdan,

I had read somewhere or other that way back when they often used platinum in crowns because it was considered inferior to gold at the time....that is until they realized how rare it was.

You may want to have them tested by a jeweler.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[cyberdan]

You may want to have them tested by a jeweler.

I have an electronic digital gold tester, it is accurate within a half karat. Some of those teeth went off the scale into the platinum range.

 

[bill from lachine]

cyberdan,

So how are you doing so far value wise versus what you paid for the lot?

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[cyberdan]

So how are you doing so far value wise versus what you paid for the lot?

Only my accountant knows, BUT

 

[silverdollarbill]

Nice finds! Will you be keeping the grill?

 

[cyberdan]

Nice finds! Will you be keeping the grill?

Na, no teeth to hold them in place. ;(

 

[cyberdan]

2-12-15 update on the nugget.

I played dumb and took it to a pawn shop yesterday. The owner of a local metal detecting shop recommended them as paying better than others on nuggets.

He did the usual testing and weighing and asked me what I wanted. "sell or pawn" I said sell and he asked how much I wanted to get. I turned around and asked what he wanted to offer. He said that is not how it is done. I said how about $500? He said that will never happen. (starting to sound like pawn stars?)

He then offered $107. I was floored. I calculated $105 (22K & 2.9gr) A PAWN SHOP OFFERING MORE THAN MELT.

Needless to say I declined, will keep for now and ebay later or maybe try a high end jewelry store at the mall.

 

[bill from lachine]

cyberdan,

Good move may try bin at double melt and see if there's any bites.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[jerseyben]

2-12-15 update on the nugget.

I played dumb and took it to a pawn shop yesterday. The owner of a local metal detecting shop recommended them as paying better than others on nuggets.

He did the usual testing and weighing and asked me what I wanted. "sell or pawn" I said sell and he asked how much I wanted to get. I turned around and asked what he wanted to offer. He said that is not how it is done. I said how about $500? He said that will never happen. (starting to sound like pawn stars?)

He then offered $107. I was floored. I calculated $105 (22K & 2.9gr) A PAWN SHOP OFFERING MORE THAN MELT.

Needless to say I declined, will keep for now and ebay later or maybe try a high end jewelry store at the mall.

What were you hoping to accomplish with this exercise?

 

[cyberdan]

What were you hoping to accomplish with this exercise?

Just curious what I could get. It was on the way to my monthly metal detecting club meeting.

 

[CladSpends2]

Ben, I think Dan is just doing what we all try and do: get the most for the item we picked. But, sometimes you take the easiest path first, like "I will just stop here and see what the pawn broker will offer me since it is on my way". If it was within 15 to 20% of what we could get on eBay and not have to lose the fees to them and PayPal as well as take the time to package and mail it, he might have done it. I would have at least. I imagine most of us would. Sometimes it depends on how much we have in an item, or how badly or quickly we want to get out of it, whether we take the offer also. Dan, the poster who mentioned that usually natural nuggets go for about 2 times spot is correct. I would think that at twice spot the nugget would go for more than $200 on the bay, so maybe $175 after fees? Knowing that I would have passed at the pawn brokers too, but it was a no harm "exercise" to see if it was worth just letting it go there and not going through the time and effort of building an auction, packaging the item, driving to the p.o., paying for shipping, etc. I think most of us check the easy road before we put in all the effort. Good luck with it, Dan.

T.

 

[ARC]

Dental gold is usually 20-22k... "plumb".