Turning Gold Into Cash

By Greg Isaac, Goldfather

With today's cloudy economy and rising prices on everything from gasoline to the food we eat, everyone is looking for a way to get a bit more cash. We all want to go on vacation, out to dinner or maybe catch a new movie, but where do we get the funds?

Many people are turning to gold and silver. Most of us have a piece or two of gold jewelry we never wear or broken pieces buried in the bottom of the jewelry box. How about that odd single earring you lost the match to? Maybe old silver flatware or a tarnished tea set that may have been inherited and just sits around collecting dust? Why not turn these items into cash and take that vacation?

The precious metals-purchasing business has grown in leaps and bounds since the old "send us your gold and we'll send you some money" days. Many shops have opened that will give you a fair price based on the precious metal content of your pieces. The 30+ year-old school ring that I wore a total of maybe five times since I purchased it and the wedding band from my failed marriage were turned it into a nice new driver to go into my golf bag.

Here are a few helpful hints that will allow you to know a bit more about the process and to help you to make an educated decision on your sale.

First off, what is a karat? Karat is the measure of actual gold content in a piece.

24 karat is 99.9% pure gold, but as gold is a soft metal, 24 karat is not very useful for jewelry. Next is 18 karat, which is 18 parts gold out of the total of 24 parts, leaving 6 parts of other metals. So an 18 karat piece is around 75% gold, 25% filler metals. The reason I say "around" is that unless the piece in question is 18 karat "plumb" it can come in at about 72% gold content when processed. "Plumb" means the piece is at least the karat indicated. 18 karat is used mostly on heavier, high-priced items.

14 karat is 14 parts gold to 10 parts filler metal or about 58% gold volume. Again, unless "plumb," most 14 karat processes at around 55% gold content. 14 karat is much more common than 18k and is used in most every type of jewelry, giving a great gold tone to the piece with great durability as well.

10 karat is the low end of the gold spectrum as it contains 41% gold but processing at 39%, sometimes less. The reason to know this is that a ring that is 14 karat gold is worth much more than the same ring at 10 karat. An example would be a typical men's school ring at $170 in 10k would be worth $240 in 14k and $330 in 18k. Many people don't understand this and wonder why the 10 karat piece of gold they wish to sell is not as valuable as they thought.

Silver can be many different percentages as well. American "Sterling" is 92.5% silver with 7.5% filler metals. This silver processes at about 90% silver content. Silver jewelry is normally marked as "925" meaning 925 parts out of 1,000 are silver, or again, 92.5%. Some European silver can be as low as 80% silver content, so that is something to keep in mind. Weighted silver is a real can of worms. That candlestick holder that weighs in at 10+ ounces more than likely has less than one ounce of 90% silver. They are barely thicker than aluminum foil and filled with cement or other types of things to strengthen them.

Some testing you can do at home is first a magnet test. Next time you're at the auto store pick up a decent strength magnet. A refrigerator magnet is not very useful for this test. Gold and silver are not magnetic, so if the item you think may be worth a few dollars sticks to the magnet, then it is not the gold or silver it appears to be. The one exception to this rule would be the clasp. The spring in a clasp is steel and therefore will attract to the magnet but no other part should do so. For gold look at the piece and see if it is marked 10k, 14k, etc. European marks are numbers: 417 = 10k, 585 = 14k and 750 = 18k. Silver would be marked "Sterling" 925, 900, 830, 800. If not marked, it is normally plated, so take it to a precious metals shop to find out for sure.

Shop testing will consist of the above plus an "acid test." With the acid test the buyer will polish a bit of the item onto a smooth black stone and test it with acids formulated at various strengths that will enable him to determine the precious metal content of the item. The acid test is the final and real test for the item, with the magnet and visual tests just helping to speed the process. After the tests are performed, the items will be weighed and a price calculated on the amount of precious metals in the items.

That is all there is to it. The process may sound complicated but it usually will take less than five minutes for a few items. Remember most precious metal shops do not care if the items in question are whole, broken, or mismatched, because the items will be melted and not resold.

Please feel free visit our website at www.GoldFatherPasadena.com or contact us at 410-544-4001 for more information.