Not long ago, we had a call from a man who had bought a box of 16 rolls of gold-plated jewelry chain at an auction where the assets of a closed jewelry manufacturer were being sold to the public. “I weighed the box,” he told us, “it weighs about 12 pounds . . . so what is it worth?”

After you send your platinum scrap to Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners and we extract the pure platinum it contains, where will that platinum be used?

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know that we like to offer advice on where to find platinum, silver and gold scrap in old factories. So we thought it would be interesting and informative to profile one such building - the old Tiffany manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey, that has now been converted to residential apartments. It is located at 90 Tiffany Boulevard - where else could it be?

For decades, people have wanted to know exactly what is being stored at Fort Knox, also known as the Fort Knox Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Platinum is bright, shiny and resistant to tarnish. It can be used to make beautiful jewelry, labware, and even the outside casings of implantable medical devices. For those reasons, many people believe that the only way to produce a piece of platinum - be it a ring, a lab crucible or anything else - is to cast it in one piece.

All precious metals investors like to be on the lookout for bright, shiny chunks of pure metal. Of them all, platinum jewelry, coins and bullion shine the brightest. They are white and shiny, with no tarnish. You look at them and immediately know they are valuable.

For centuries, gold has been thought of as the greatest, most beautiful and most desirable metal in the world. That concept has entered popular culture in many ways. When a product or commodity is spoken of as the best of its kind, it is called “the gold standard.” When athletes compete at the Olympics, the first-place winners are awarded gold medals. And through the ages, many events have happened because of gold. There was the Gold Rush of 1849. Centuries earlier, Spanish explorers sailed to the New World in search of El Dorado, a city made of gold.

Last month, a development firm from New York bought a vacant 50-acre manufacturing complex from Caterpillar in Milwaukee. And in the same month, the vacant 37,000 square foot Vista Pointe Industrial Plaza building in San Diego was sold to a California developer.  

...When You Recycle These Gold-Plated Items

While you’re poking around at the antiques mall you notice a pair of gold-plated earrings sitting in a tray. You could snag them for less than $10.00, but why bother? They are going to contain only maybe 50 cents worth of gold at best. So you walk on by and keep looking for more interesting items.

Gold is a heavy element. A chunk of gold is, in fact, more than seven times heavier than a piece of marble or even granite of the same size. And when gold is in a natural setting, it can be more than 25 times heavier than the sand or soil that surrounds it.

Are airplanes great places to look for gold, silver and other precious metals? Granted, the mechanical and electronics that planes hold often contain amounts elements of gold, platinum and silver. But tons of gold? Why would any plane contain that much precious metal?

What are the best places to find huge quantities of precious metals?

How to Avoid Myths and Mistakes

Many answers are flying around to that question. Unfortunately, many of those answers are just plain wrong. In today’s post, let’s take a closer look.

Up until a few years ago, it was difficult to see genuine videos of thieves at work. But now that security cameras are just about everywhere to record activity in public places, homes, and stores, it is easy to watch videos of thefts of all kinds. If you search for “theft” or jewel heist” on YouTube, you will find dozens of actual videos of crimes taking place.

Gold-plated and gold-covered items look beautiful - and they look expensive. But even though many collectible items have a beautiful surface of genuine gold, some contain only a tiny amount of the precious metal. Over the centuries, tiny amounts of gold have been beaten thin and used to decorate all kinds of items, even buildings.

Tariffs, Trade Wars, Shrinking Tech . . .What’s the best way to invest in scrap gold today?

We have to admit, we have never seen a period when it has been so difficult to pinpoint the biggest trends that will affect the prices of gold. In the past, there were periods of uncertainty when it was possible to consider just one trend, see how it was probably going to affect domestic gold prices, and formulate an investment strategy. You could say, for example, “Looks like trade relations with China are going to be rough for a while, there could be fewer gold crossing borders, so the price of gold that is already in the U.S. is probably going to rise.”

Have you heard that half of all marriages end in divorce? If you do a little research online, you will learn that statistic is not true. It seems that in about 1980, the divorce rate hit an all-time high of 40%, and is be declining today. That could be because more young people are skipping marriage - and if you don’t get married, how can you get divorced?

Abracadabra! 

Back in medieval times, alchemists tried to convert silver and base metals into gold. At the same time, magicians tried to use gold to help their clients ward off evil, attract love, or cure various diseases.

Have you every had a fantasy like this?

Your old Uncle Chuck died and while you are clearing out his house, you find an old watch in his dresser drawer. It has a stainless steel case, nothing special. But the appraiser who comes to evaluate the estate says, “Hold on, this watch isn’t made of stainless steel, it’s made of platinum and is worth at least $10,000.”

Copper is a metal with many wonderful and useful properties. It is soft and malleable. It is also a “friendly” metal that can be blended with many other metals to form alloys.

What precious metals are most often mixed with copper? And when they are, how does that affect their value? Let’s explore that topic.

We watched the royal wedding. Did you?

And while we were caught up in the wonderful spectacle of two young people starting their married life together, we couldn’t help noticing that a lot of jewelry was on display too. (We assume that most of the gold and gemstones we saw were the real thing, given the wealth of the celebrities in attendance and the serious nature of the event.)