If you happen to be in London this week, I’d urge you to visit the British Museum. A treasure of 5,200 coins found by a man named Paul Coleman has just gone on display there. Mr. Coleman isn’t a coin collector exactly. He’s a hobbyist who found the coins last year with his metal detector in Lenborough, a small town north of London. The coins were buried in a lead container, probably in the 11th century. They are made of silver and show images of two kings named Ethelred II and Canute. Read more:

When you send us old catalytic converters, sputtering targets, dental scrap or other items to be processed, we recover precious metals from them that were mined from the earth years ago. Those same metals will then be reused in new applications that can include jewelry making, medical technologies, electronics manufacturing, and many more. What could be more efficient?

If you go shopping at antique malls or estate sales, you will discover a number of items for sale that are made of gray metal. How can you tell if they are made of silver, white gold or platinum?

On average, quarters minted in 1964 or before contain 18% pure silver that is worth more than $3.25. In 1984, everything changed. That was the year when the U.S. Mint started making copper-nickel clad quarters for circulation. They contain no silver.  

If you walk into an estate sale or antique shop, chances are good that you will find trophies, class rings, beer steins and tabletop cigarette lighters. They all found their way into many American homes in years gone by. Those items are so common that it is easy to forget that they often contain significant quantities of silver and gold that are well worth recycling.

Can silver be profitably recycled from printing ink? The answer to that question is yes, silver can be obtained from many printing inks. When you introduce the right chemical into them, the silver precipitates and falls to the bottom.  But here is some additional information you need to know.

We have reached a tipping point where tremendous numbers of products that contain precious metals are being discarded or recycled. If you are an alert investor or speculator, you can buy quantities of them at rock-bottom prices, recycle them, and earn a big return on your investment. Some of these products include...

Yes, it is true, according to data compiled by 911Metallurgist.com. In fact, a ton of used iPhones contains 324 times more gold than a ton of gold ore does. A ton of iPhones also contains 13 times more copper than a ton of copper ore does, and 6.5 times more silver than a ton of silver ore does. So the message seems to be that as demand for precious metals remains high, recycling phones is a practice that is not about to go away.

We get many calls at Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners from people who have cellphones, catalytic converters, computers, remote control devices, and other items that contain precious metals that can be extracted and refined. The first question that those callers ask is usually, “How much are they worth?” And the first question that we usually ask them is, “How many do you have?”

Recycling precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium can be a complicated business. There could be treasure hiding in the most unusual places, and businesses and consumers alike are always on the lookout for tips, tricks and advice. Our top blog posts, as determined by our readers, represent a collection of knowledge you may find just as worthwhile to read as they have.