Have you ever failed to realize that an old ring, an old lab vessel, or a bit of white metal scrap was made of platinum? If you have, you are not alone. Because platinum is a white metal, it is easy to mistake it for silver or even something as low-end as polished pewter, stainless steel or even aluminum. Here are three facts that can help you recognize platinum more quickly and reliably.

What about the gold-toned Oscars that are given to Academy Award winners? They are only plated with a very thin layer of 24-karat gold. Even though they stand 13.5 inches tall and weigh more than eight pounds, they still don’t contain enough gold to recycle for a significant amount of money. But there is value in some trophies, medals and awards...

It seems likely that prices are trending up, and could continue to do so for months, or even for several years. If that is the case, what are your best gold investment strategies? If you believe that gold prices will continue to rise, here are two to consider…

Since ancient times, jewelers have been creating rings and other pieces of jewelry by pouring molten metal into molds. What methods did they use? Have any new methods have come along? It’s a fascinating subject that you should understand if you invest in precious metals. In today’s post, we’ll take a closer look.

Even though film and other analog photo supplies are selling at a tiny fraction of what they were in the pre-digital age, those increases are significant. Since film photography is highly reliant on silver, does that increase mean that silver will be in greater demand, and trading prices will rise? It could be. Whenever demand increases for a commodity that is in a fixed supply, prices for that commodity rise. 

On our blog today, we're featuring a fantastic video that shows all the work that a company called Baron Rings put into designing and manufacturing the championship rings that were awarded to the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. It is inspiring to see a company create something so beautiful. The video reminds us of two important considerations about reclaiming precious metals from older commemorative and class rings…

Twenty-five years ago, few people could have predicted that people would be using drones to prospect for gold and other precious metals. In today’s post, let’s put on our thinking caps and predict how tech-savvy treasure-seekers will be looking for gold and other precious metals in the years ahead.

Platinum wire can turn up just about anywhere where platinum was used in manufacturing. Even though it doesn’t look valuable to the casual observer, it could be. So, if you find bright, shiny white wire... 

BMW, General Motors, and all major car makers are marketing electric and hybrid cars that use batteries. Tesla and Panasonic are selling back-up batteries for use in homes and commercial buildings. We are entering the age of the battery. Does that increasing battery production mean that this is a great time to start buying up scrapped batteries and recycling them? The answers to that question are surprising. Here are some things you need to know...

Our editorial team had a very busy 2016, writing a total of 46 blog posts on a variety of topics. Some posts contained only nuts-and-bolts advice on finding and processing precious metals. Others covered trends. Yet we did our utmost to deliver practical, usable advice in every post we wrote. In today’s post, we’ll organize those 2016 posts by topic, so you can quickly find the information you’re looking for.

Did you know you can search for the term “platinum scrap” on eBay and find mixed platinum scrap for sale? I just tried it, and I found a bag of floor sweepings, said to contain platinum, that I could buy for $500. I found plenty of other items that were said to contain platinum too, including hard disk blanks, catalytic converters, bags of mixed jewelry findings and scrap, and old laboratory testing crucibles. So, could I buy those items, send them to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners to be recycled, and make a healthy profit? It’s possible. Yet the chances of it happening are probably slim, because…

Over the last four or five years, tens of thousands of older desktop computers have been scrapped. Although a lot of that recycling has already happened, it is still possible to find quantities of older desktops that you can buy at extremely low, junk prices. And if you can buy up a quantity of them and extract the gold they contain, you stand to make a very good profit.

Some people who go looking for recyclable silver are applying this simple strategy...They go to a bank, buy rolls of coins and then sort through them, looking for coins from certain years that contain silver. If they can find just one or two old silver coins, they can recycle them and make money. And the more coin rolls they buy, the more money they make. At least, that’s the theory....

Let’s say that in your hunting for valuable items made of precious metals, you come across something made of “Argentium.” It could be a bracelet or other piece of jewelry in its original box with paperwork that says it’s made of Argentium. Or maybe a salesman at a jewelry store or estate sale winks at you and says, “This piece is extra valuable because it’s better than sterling... it’s Argentium!” It’s bright and white and shiny like silver... but what is it?

Over the years, people have made all kinds of common-looking objects out of gold, platinum and silver. If you’re not alert, you could pass them by when you search for precious metal items in antique stores, estate sales, and even online auctions

That’s why this could be a very profitable season to go looking for valuable items that people have lost during the summer months. Rings, watches, cellphones and other stuff is out there waiting for you, so let’s review some of the strategies that can help you find them. 

Catalytic converters are probably the biggest source of recyclable platinum today, because so many of them have been manufactured – and so many are piling up in scrapyards and other places where cars are repaired or scrapped. But even though cat convertors might be the biggest source of platinum, are they the best source for speculators who like to collect platinum scrap and send it to us to be refined? Not necessarily. 

Why look at online auction sites? Simply because they offer you the fastest way to examine hundreds and hundreds of different items that are for sale. You don’t have to travel to antique malls, estate sales, or live auctions. Just fire up your computer and start looking. 

Have you ever seen sparks flying when someone was using an arc welder or oxyacetylene welding torch? The sparks you see are little bits of molten metal that fall to the floor as powder and then cool. If silver is contained in the metals being bonded (or if it is contained in the rods used for brazing, as it often is), it will fall to the floor where it will be swept up – maybe by a young employee like I was, at the end of the day. 

If your liquid chemicals contain gold, silver, platinum or other precious metals, how can they be separated (precipitated) out of their solutions and tuned into solid metallic form again? Several different processes can be used to precipitate previous metals from liquids...