...Most of the garments date from the Chinese Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), which was established by none other than the Mongolian conqueror Kublai Khan. That’s a long time ago, but isn’t it still possible to find antique items of clothing that are woven with gold – or maybe with silver or other precious metals? Here’s some information you should know when you go looking for precious metals in antique clothing. 

For several years now, the most common comment we’ve been hearing about investing in gold has been, “Gold prices are so low… stay away from it as an investment.” That’s the common wisdom. It might be common. But it is wise? Not really.

Gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium and the precious metals are trading for much higher prices per ounce than silver. But does that mean that you should write off silver as a profitable investment metal? Not at all. Here are some pretty compelling reasons why you could make more money in silver than you can with more glamorous precious metals.

Findings are small, pre-manufactured metal items that are used in jewelry production. Chances are pretty good that as you read this post, some of them are right there in the room with you. If you bought a nice silver chain to give your niece for a present, for example, open the box and take a look at it. You’ll see that there is a small ring attached to one end, and some kind of clasp to the other. Those add-on pieces are findings. 

We’ve published posts in the past about why recycling gold is socially responsible. Recycled gold doesn’t have to be mined, and mining pollutes air and water and burns fossil fuels. And then there’s the fact that recycled gold is not dug from the earth by underpaid, exploited workers. Of course, it is possible that the gold that we recycle from computer motherboards, old jewelry and other sources does have a “dirty” past – because gold doesn’t have DNA, it is impossible to know whether it originally came from a mine in Africa or from ancient amulets that were stolen from the Aztecs. But even if that is the case, the gold that we recycle today is generations removed from any dirty sources and less closely linked to environmental or societal ills. 

We’ve written about sputtering targets in the past, but a few recent calls made us think that this would be a good time to remind our readers that most used sputtering targets still contain precious metals that are worth extracting.

Watching Downton Abbey can alert you to all kinds of antique precious-metal items that you can find if you’re shopping online, at antique stores, at estate sales . . . just about everywhere old metal items can be found. Here’s a checklist of items that we noticed during just one episode of the show...

It is always sad to see a business fail – someone’s hopes, dream and dollars are wrapped up in every enterprise. But a business that has closed can spell opportunity if you’re an alert investor who wants to buy precious metals for recycling.

Last year we published a list of the most popular blog posts that we ran in 2014 – the ones that had been viewed by the most people and that had generated the greatest number of comments. We’ve created a different list of best posts this year. They are posts that contain the kind of useful information that can quickly put a lot of money in your pocket – maybe even in time for the holidays. 

We’ve already written about pink gold, rose gold, white gold, and even green gold on the Specialty Metals blog. (See related posts below.) We thought we’d seen just about every color, then we found an article entitled “What Can Make a Piece of Gold Turn Blue?” that Esther Inglis-Arkell wrote for io9.com. 

Frankly, we are not going to answer that question on today’s post, because it is a question that only your financial advisor or tax preparer can answer for you. There are many variables to consider – your tax bracket, your other investment gains or losses – and we are not in a position to offer that kind of advice. What we can do, however, is answer the following question . . . 

The end of calendar year 2015 is coming up fast, and that means it’s time to think ahead about your IRA and other accounts that will figure when you file your taxes next April. Some people are wondering about putting gold and other precious metals into their IRA accounts. On first thought, that makes sense. Gold prices are low right now, after all, so you’re probably not going to sell gold soon. Why not roll your gold into your IRA and not even think about selling it now?

Have you thought of investing in silver, gold, or platinum bars? If you haven’t, maybe you should. Bullion is one of our favorite precious metal investments. Bullion offers important advantages to serious investors, for a lot of very good reasons . . . 

Today, lots of older flat screen TVs are appearing in dumpsters at the dump too. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, since flat screens have been the televisions of choice for more than a decade now. They’re already breaking down and wearing out. Plus, consumers are tossing old flat screens that still work pretty well so they can upgrade to smart TVs, bigger TVs, higher-definition TVs, and lots of other new products.

There has been so much hoopla about VW’s diesel crisis that it’s easy to overlook the chance that even more carmakers could be affected. We don’t have a crystal ball and we’re not saying that more car manufacturers have engaged in emissions deception. But let’s review who else is selling diesel-powered cars and light trucks in America right now... 

Did you know that some thermocouples contain gold and gold alloys? They are highly specialized, not the kind of thermocouples or thermocouple wire that you can pull out of old stoves or air conditioners. They are usually used in laboratory settings to measure low to moderate temperatures. If you acquire even a small quantity of them...

Recycling precious metals often involves analyzing and refining big messy batches of mixed materials. People who own these mixed lots of material know that gold or silver or platinum is “in there” somewhere, but don’t know where it is, what it is, or how much of it is present. 

We’ve written before on this blog about how to make money recycling gold class rings. Today, let’s take a look at how you can profitably recycle older class rings that contain palladium and platinum. 

We don’t have a crystal ball that lets us see what precious metals you now own – either in bullion, in materials that you haven’t yet recycled or elsewhere - but we’re willing to guess that most of your metals investments fall into the mid-term category that FINRA defines: you’re going to have them for between three and 10 years, so they should be investments that offer stable long-term growth.

If you forgot to do any spring cleaning, these energizing autumn days can be a good time to get going. If you do, there is a pretty good chance that you’ll discover some items that will provide you with a bigger payback than you realize. Here are some items that are lying around my house. Odds are pretty good that they can be recycled very profitably by a top precious metals refinery like Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners.