When we opened Wenric's in December 1995, gold was in the $300 per Troy ounce range. By December 5, 1999 the New York market closed at $275.70 per Troy ounce. As I write this (September 16, 2011), the price of gold on the New York market closed at $1,812.50! Don't we all wish we had a box of gold coins buried in the back yard?
With the current “economic instability”, the price of precious metals has prompted many of us to start considering just how much we might have tied up in old jewelry that we can't (or don't wish to) wear any longer. The advertisements abound from companies or individuals who will pay cash for your old jewelry. This is an instance where I will say “Seller Beware”! Most folks are happy enough to have a little extra cash that they never really ask what the jewelry was actually worth. Often nothing is paid for stones that might be in the jewelry.
This seems like a good time to review the terminology of gold fineness. Pure, “fine” gold is defined as 24 karat. It is one of the most malleable, and ductile elements. This means that it can be hammered into thin sheets, or drawn down into wire finer than a human hair. It is this trait that makes it generally unsuitable for jewelry. It is ordinarily mixed with other metals (alloyed) to increase the hardness, and durability. The karat gold of a given article is a ratio of gold to alloy – For example,
18 karat gold is 18/24ths gold, or 75 % gold, and may be marked 18K or 750
14 karat gold is 14/24ths gold, or 58.3 % gold, it may be marked 14K or 585
10 karat gold is 10/24ths gold, or 41.7 % gold. It will typically be marked 10K, and is the “lowest” alloy of gold sold in the Unites Sates that can be sold as gold jewelry.
The “color” of gold is affected by the type, and proportions of alloy metals used to bring it to the particular fineness desired. Red, or rose gold has a bit more copper, and less silver or nickel, white gold more nickle or palladium. They are still 14/24ths, 58.5% gold.
We have been buying gold, and silver “scrap” for quite some time. It is a service that we have offered to our customers to help defray the costs of their new jewelry, or if they just need some cash. We pay 70% of “spot” if you want to be paid immediately, or 80% if you can wait a couple days for us to take it to the refiner. When we take gold to our refiner it is melted into a small ingot, then drilled to sample a small amount within the ingot. The sample is placed into a laser spectrograph where an accurate assay tells just how much gold vs “other” metals is present.
