With the Help of Specialty Metals, You Can Make Money Collecting Silver Contacts from the 1980s and 90s. Here’s What You Need to Know

If you look for business liquidation auctions in your area, you will find an interesting variety of businesses that are closed and that have hired auction firms to liquidate their equipment and supplies. 

In a recent search, we found auctioneers that were liquidating exercise equipment from health clubs . . . ice cream freezers from scoop shops . . . welding equipment from a muffler shop . . . and stoves from a pizzeria. 

Did you watch the show Meteorite Men on the Science Channel? It was on the air from 2010-2012 and it was fun and educational. It followed the adventures of Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin, two adventurers, as they went hunting for meteorites in Canada, Chile, Poland, Sweden, as well as in Utah and other U.S. States.

You find an item that’s made of metal. You don’t know exactly what it is. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a lot of money. Why not call Specialty Metals to find out?

Some people believe they need metal detectors to find precious metals. Other people use drones. And still others think they need precious metal testing kits.

Those people are right. But today, we would like to remind you of another very basic fact that can help you find more precious metals . . .

No matter what you invest in, you are probably worried about something. If you have money in stocks, how are the companies faring that you have invested in? If you invest in art, have the kind of items you have invested in been increasing in value, or going down? And if you invest in collectible cars and own a 1957 Thunderbird (just one possible investment), how much did a similar car sell for at auction last month?

Hunting for precious metals often involves looking for small items. You get lucky when you find a gold tuxedo shirt stud in a jewelry box. Or you find a sterling silver spoon at an antique store, mixed in alongside less valuable items of tableware, and buy it for just a dollar or two.

If you look in your fridge at this time of year, chances are you will find some leftovers. Maybe there is a little wad of stuffing in a plastic storage box that’s left over from Thanksgiving, or a few slices of a roast from a big meal you served at Chanukah or Christmas. Well, it’s time to toss them.

But what about leftovers from the precious metal scrap you have collected and recycled over the last year? Don’t toss them! If you have been collecting and investing in precious metals, you just might have enough leftover materials to profit from.

Investing in precious gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap is not gambling, for a very simple reason:

When you invest in precious metals, you are relying on experience and knowledge to reduce or even eliminate risk. When you are gambling, you can’t eliminate risk completely.

When one investor was examining a batch of thermocouple wire, for example, he was able to know what it was because he had seen the same kind of wire before. He knew how much silver was contained in the thermocouples he was looking at, and he knew what it would sell for. So he applied his experience and knowledge and made a profitable buy of silver scrap.

There are many downsides to living through the Coronavirus pandemic. Many of us are frightened, getting cabin fever, watching the same kind of programs over and over again on cable, and making sure our children complete their schoolwork.

That can all be emotionally difficult, no questions about it. But at the same time, many of us are discovering that there are good things about sheltering at home. One of the really great things is that we have the opportunity to explore all kinds of new things . . . nearly anything we want.

The meaning of the term “floor sweepings” is pretty obvious, right? You go into an area of a factory where gold, platinum or silver jewelry or other products were manufactured, you sweep them up, and send them to a precious metals refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners, correct?

We recently had the opportunity to visit a metal scrapyard – one of those big outdoor places, five acres or more, that are littered with stuff like piles of aluminum windows, with machinery and even with big car and truck engines. It was quite an impressive site. And it made us realize that people can get scared when they start thinking about investing in metals of any kind.

You might think you know what a precious metal refinery can do for you. It can extract a precious metal from different kinds of scrap, correct?

By and large, that is true. But it is not as simple as that. Let’s explore.

“Platinum Is the Hardest Metal” and Other Common Misconceptions about the Hardness of Precious Metals

Lots of people assume that platinum is the hardest precious metal. But they are wrong! Although platinum is about two times harder than gold, it is still a relatively soft metal that can be shaped fairly easily. Perhaps the misconception that platinum is very hard has arisen because people confuse tarnish-resistance with hardness. Platinum is extremely tarnish-resistant, yes. But is it also especially hard? No. The fact that it resists tarnishing explains why it can be plated onto silver (which tarnishes easily) to create jewelry that retains its bright surface sheen. But that has nothing to do with hardness.

Another school year is about to begin. And because we are thinking about education, we would like to ask this question . . .

What is the best way to educate young people about investing in precious metals?

Have you ever worked for a company that was run in a somewhat unusual – maybe even crazy – way? Here are some stories of companies that were . . .

You have a pile of mixed metal scrap - shavings, powder, scrapings, what have you. You know that the batch probably contains quantities of platinum, gold, silver and maybe even platinum family metals like rhodium and osmium.  And you also have a strong suspicion that your pile of stuff contains small quantities of stainless steel, aluminum, copper and other low-value metallic scrap.

In the early days of 3-D printing, it took several steps to “print” a metal part. If you wanted to print a gold ring, for example, you had to follow these steps . . .

If you’ve ever walked around an old industrial site hunting for precious metal scrap, you know that the search can be overwhelming. You examine heaps of dirt, piles of chemicals hiding in the bushes, old steel drums that contain dried or wet sediment, streams where chemicals and byproducts were once deposited, and all kinds of other places that could be hiding precious metal scrap. Although you cannot identify most precious metal scrap just by looking at it, here’s a quick visual guide to some of the materials that can often be refined profitably in our precious metals refinery.

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…