Recycling Gold? Any Thoughts?

[minousbijoux]

So each time I try to buy settings for the stones I already have, my addiction kicks in - someone has a sale, or Barry puts his new month's stones up, or...well, it doesn't take much and there I go buying more stones. And of course, instead of falling for a reasonably priced setting on ebay, I had to walk into my local BM and fall for a setting there (in fact, I'm in love and can't get it out of my head). Price? Not reasonable. A little less than half of it is in the gold. So here's the question: what if I recycle my old gold? What can you get for scrap? Has anyone done it? Any ideas?

 

[VapidLapid]

I know of a guy on 47th street in the diamond district in nyc who pays 98% of what spot gold is on the COMEX at the time of purchase. You can do very well scraping out your old gold if you go to the right places. Dont do it on tv!!! also if you do remove all the stones even the melee for they will be destroyed.

 

[minousbijoux]

Wow, after I wrote that, I did a PS search and was just reading through the depressing - but old - postings on trading in gold. Nice to know that there is someone in this country who would be fair. When I asked my jeweler, she said she would give me double the scrap price. I've been trying to figure out just how ridiculously low that would be, but you may have saved me from that fate. Any clues as to how I might go finding this gentleman on 47th Street?

 

[VapidLapid]

Well I dont remember the name but could find it if I were there. He's got a russian name, its one of those shops in those mall/arcade sorts of places where every counter is actually a different "shop", all the way in the back on the left , south side of the street closer to 5th ave. Helps to sort you karatage first too. remember 14kt is 58.5% gold. He is a refiner and smelts it himself. If you wer selling scrap to your local jeweler who was then going to sell it to a smelter or yet another middleperson you'd see lower returns, so it is best to sell scrap directly to the person who will refine it.

 

[minousbijoux]

So I have followed up and found that there are a plethora of New York companies buying gold right now, and VL, you are absolutely right, they pay well! I'm so excited to have found a place to recycle all my (like I have a lot!) old trashed gold jewelry. I chose one based on reviews, store policies and pricing and will try it out. I'm jonesing for a fix, so if I can steer clear of blowing it all on more stones, I could actually finish a piece! Thanks so much.

 

[StonieGrl]

Hehehehe, I scrapped a heavy gold bracelet that I bought 20 years ago and it pretty much paid for the JKT necklace (not the stones) in my avatar.

 

[innerkitten]

I had some of my gold scarps made into a few hammered gold bands. And I'm saving some more scarps for a future project. Since I'm making things myself now I'm hoping to use it myself.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Minous,

Do you think you could give us a review when you go? I'm looking to do something similar, but don't really know who to go to either! I'm in Philly, but NYC isn't so far away.

 

[minousbijoux]

Absolutely - though as much as I'd like to go to NY, I plan on mailing it to them. Apparently, they pay for the shipping and insurance. I just need to weigh it before I send it and to separate it by karat strength. Any ideas how to determine the karatage (making up a word there) for gold that's not marked?

 

[desertgem]

Most likely any mid size town has a gold/diamond exchange where they buy in gold "scrap" for a % of spot. The one in my town of 40,000 takes in a pint of rings, ear rings, and pendants about every 2 weeks. I take my ring sizing stick and mm calipers ( for stone size) and check over the container for nice things with bad or missing stones. I usually get it for melt as it is better than he will get from the smelter. It is a lot less expensive if you are setting your own stones than buying a new finding, but most are mass market jewelry, so you still need to buy special ones at times.
Jim