# Gold Plated flatware



## Slochteren (Aug 23, 2016)

Hi,

I get from a shop here gold plated for free, now he has heavy gold plated silver spoons, forks etc. Wenn he sends it to his normal refiner he gets only paid for the silver. I can strip the gold and give the silver back to him. Wenn i put them in AR will only the gold dissolve and the silver passivates so i can get the gold without dissolving all silver?
I tested the handle of a knife and that is +/- 0,3 gr gold. Dissolved it in nitric and the gold kept almost it shape.
I expect total from the 40 pieces somewhere between 15 and 20 gr gold.

Thanks Paul


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## nickvc (Aug 23, 2016)

Either buy the pieces with a little bonus over scrap for the seller say spot price, then cut the pieces in half dissolve in nitric, rinse well after and then dissolve the gold, the silver can be cemented out on copper and the gold solution filtered and precipitated to recover the gold. If there is no nickel barrier on the pieces the gold will have started to alloy with the silver so you need to dissolve all the silver to get all the gold.
You could always suggest that you split the gold with your customer and return the silver to him to sell, no cost to you and a nice bonus for him if your correct on the amount of gold, this guy sounds like he could be a good potential customer talk to him and treat him well you never know what he may have or can source if he feels comfortable dealing with you!


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## Slochteren (Aug 24, 2016)

I do repairs for free for him and he gives me gold plated stuff he cannot sell or doesn't get the money for the gold.
I thought putting them in AR would be the fastest and cheapest way to get the gold.

Paul


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## nickvc (Aug 24, 2016)

Try one piece and see, if there is no nickel barrier as I said the gold will have alloyed with the silver and the passivation of the top layer by AR may trap some gold and you will get some silver form silver chloride in your mix which will trap further gold, I suspect you could end up with a mess on your hands with little solid silver to return to your customer if that's the case then cut the pieces up and dissolve the silver away which will leave you with mainly the gold, if you heat the solution really hard you may remove nearly all the silver and any base metals, personally I'd do a deal with the guy and use the items for inquarting, if your sure of your figures offer him a good deal and leave some profit for you.


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