Melting old gold/ platinum

[that_someone_special]

Is it worth it to melt old gold and platinum pieces to reuse.. or is it more of a hassle to reuse it? My platinum 3 stone setting is going to be empty soon.... and I don't know what to do with it.

If you CAN reuse the metal- who even does that kind if stuff or works with it? I have no idea!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

In the case of gold, it depends on what you want and who is doing the work. There are jewellers who do this gladly (Hans Meevis is foremost on my mind, as he has some impressive before-and-after pictures on his blog), some who will only do it by adding around 50% of new gold and some who won't. Melting down gold can cause porosity in the new piece and is generally more suited for fabircation than for casting, specially intricate pieces. I know an ingraver who does the most amazingly detailed pieces who refuses to use melted gold, as hitting a pore as he is finishing the engraving can ruin 20 hours of work in an instant. I would send an email to the craftspeople you are considering and asking their opinion.

Platinum, however, is a different story. Platinum melts at absurdly high temperatures (even soldering requires some specialized set-ups) and I woult think that most people fabricate with platinum, instead of casting. In this case, I would look for jewellers who work with cast platinum and ask their opinion.

 

[that_someone_special]

Thank you for the input!

 

[Lee Little]

Here in Thailand it is a very common procedure. People often supply the smith with their own gold, usually in the form of an old ring or broken chain. It is simply melted down into an ingot and a new piece hammered out. Best regards, Lee

 

[Michael_E]

Old metals typically have other things attached to them which makes casting with them risky. Things like solder can contaminate the material and cause the finished casting to be brittle and porous. You're better off to use fresh metal when doing a new casting and come to some arrangement with your jeweler about what you will receive as a discount for you old metal, (which he will send to a refiner to be purified and reused elsewhere).

 

[Lee Little]

Yes, Michael is correct about the solder lowering your gold percentage. Especially when it comes to chains as they have lots of solder. I should have mentioned that often when the Thai goldsmith re-uses a chain to make an alloy he will usually add some pure gold to the alloy to beef it up. Exact percentages are not considered here in general but the Thai people like high gold content, usually 22 to 23K. Below 90% (21.6K) is generally not desirable here, mainly because the smiths think it is too stiff to work with.
If you do decide to sell your Platinum to a refinery in the states or otherwise, be sure to check around as there are large differences on how much they pay. Best regards, Lee