We have written many articles about metal detectors on this blog, and with good reason. 

Metal detectors, even basic models that cost little more than $100.00, are some of the most powerful tools ever devised for finding buried precious metals on beaches, in open fields, on the sites of old buildings and factories, and other prime prospecting sites. 

People are making money – sometimes a lot of it – by using metal detectors. And chances are pretty good that you can too. 

Forty or fifty years ago, men were apparently wearing a variety of small jewelry items that are no longer very popular today. 

In a moment, we will list what some of these items are and how you can recognize them when you go hunting for gold, silver, and platinum items that are worth recycling. But before we give you a list of these items, we would like to mention the following fact . . . 

Many people believe that Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BC), the Greek mathematician and scientist, invented the karat system of classifying the purity of gold that is still used today. Although he was an historically important astronomer, engineer, inventor, and mathematician, he didn’t!

The last time we wrote about Pyrite (which is another name for Fool’s Gold) was in a post we published back in 2014. So we thought it would be a good time to write about the topic again and focus on this question . . . 

We have written about sputtering targets before on the Specialty Metals Blog. To review, they are multilayered disks that contain several different metals. When they are secured  inside a plasma plating tank and electrical current flows through them, their uppermost layer of metal (be it gold, platinum, or another metal) is dispersed into the plasma inside the tank.  Due to the flow of electrons, it adheres to the surface of whatever metal object is being plated.

A few years ago, it was time to replace the muffler/silencer on a riding mower. The company that owned it ordered a new muffler and yanked the old one off. At that point, the owner noticed that it had been installed by wrapping wire around one of the pipes that came out of the old muffler. 

That wire, which was about two feet long and weighed about 2/10 of a Troy Ounce, turned out to be made of pure platinum. It was worth more than $200.00. 

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. 

If you ask “Where can I find a gold refinery near me?” online, you will get a lot of hits. Depending on where you live, you will find listings for “we buy gold” businesses, scrap metal yards, jewelry manufacturers, and probably more kinds of businesses too. 

A number of factors make certain kinds of precious metal scrap more desirable investments than others. 

These factors include the density and distribution of precious metal within the scrap. If one ounce of gold is distributed through two pounds of scrap, for example, that is a desirably, high density form of scrap. If that same single ounce of gold is distributed through two tons of dirt or sand, that makes for a less desirable investment. (It is easier to ship and process two pounds of material than it is to ship and process two tons.)

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal – sometimes more than one. Those additional metals could be nickel, silver, palladium, and/or zinc. Sometimes a little copper is added too, to make the alloy less brittle and easier to shape. But only a little copper can be added, because if you add too much of it to gold, the resulting alloy becomes pinkish in hue. (That’s where so-called pink gold comes from.)

Why We Are More Convenient – and Offer Better Value – than Gold Buyers Near You

When you have items to sell that are made of gold, silver, platinum or maybe pieces of jewelry that contain gemstones, chances are your first thought is, “I need to find a gold buyer near me.”

That’s a logical first thought to have. If there is an honest and reputable company near you that buys precious metals, what could be easier than getting in your car and going to see them? But there are a lot of good reasons why hundreds, and maybe even thousands of people across the United States have decided that it is smarter, and even more convenient, to do business with us. 

Read and Learn from Our Most Popular Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Blog Posts Published in 2022

As 2023 kicks off, we would like to share a list of the most popular, most-read posts that we have published in the last year. 

Thank you, readers, for making our blog one of the top-performing, most often-read advisories in the precious metal industry. 

A 1948 Packard weighed about 3,800 pounds when it rolled off the assembly line. No wonder. It was powered by a straight eight motor that was about the size of a refrigerator. A 1948 Lincoln Continental, which was powered by a V-12 engine, weighed about 4,000 pounds. 

What do cars weigh today?

In the world of gaming, old consoles and controllers quickly become obsolete. The result is that the old gaming equipment you have lying around can be a good source of gold you can recycle. The trick is knowing where to look. 

Christmas always brings a lot of new presents into my house. It’s a great time of year. 

But while I was shopping this week, I started to think about some of the presents I got in years past. Some of them are still in their original boxes, unopened! Wouldn’t this be a great time to pull those old presents out and decide to start using them now and if not, whether to sell them. 

It could also be a time to remove printed circuit boards from some of them and reclaim the gold and silver they contain. Maybe you are like me and have old items lying around that could contain precious metals that can be removed and recycled profitably. 

Is there a precious metal investor on your holiday shopping list?

If so, we have some great gift suggestions for you. 

If you are a regular reader of the Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners blog, you will remember that we published some gift suggestions just a year ago to help you with your 2021 holiday shopping. For today’s post, we have revisited some of those gift suggestions and we are updating our list to reflect the fact that some prices for these gifts have fallen and some great new gift items have just been introduced. 

Which gold investments performed best in 2022? And which are likely to be the most profitable in the year ahead? 

Let’s explore and find some answers to those questions. 

. . . But They Still Won’t Make You Any Money

We are going to start today’s post with a quiz. So get ready to test your knowledge about gold and gold scrap.

The value of a gold watch is determined by two factors . . .

1. The collectible value of the watch, which is determined by the prestige of the company that made it.

2. The metallic value of the watch’s case.

In today’s post, we’ll look at each of these factors.

With the holidays coming soon, are you hoping to receive a spanking-new digital camera as a gift? Or have you decided that the camera that is in your smartphone has gotten so powerful that you no longer need to own a digital camera?

In either case, the result is probably the same . . .