# anyone ever find scrap at goodwill?



## danny987

Ever find some jewelery or flatware there?


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## Harold_V

In Utah, Deseret Industries, owned and operated by the mormon church, is the most popular second hand store. For years I purchased eye glasses for 25¢ pair, plus the odd piece of sterling. Before 1980, when precious metals went through the ceiling in price, such material wasn't considered as desirable. No one understood the concept of refining back then, nor were there buyers of gold and silver as there is today. As a result, the stuff was readily available and reasonably priced. 

I remember, with a smile, stopping at a garage sale while I was traveling in Nevada. I asked the gal if she had any jewelry. "No", was her reply. Don't know why, but I asked her if she had any class rings. That rang a bell. She trotted in the house and reemerged with a well taped man's high school class ring, obviously that of a long past love. 

"How much?", I asked. 

"25¢", she replied. 

"Sold!" 

That was representative of the deals I could make back then. 

Ahhh! Those were the days!

Harold


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## Anonymous

Most of the good stuff gets picked out before it hits the floor, anything that looks half decent they have it appraised by a local Jeweler. Whom I suspect is also purchasing the majority.

Maybe twice a year the store has a silent auction, mostly junk.


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## qst42know

Not one piece of jewelery shows up in my local GW store not even the costume jewelery. Though many of the empty boxes do. Some of the boxes are from prominent jewelers and would have held some quality pieces, other boxes are from big box stores with the little 10k or 14k tags still inside.

Granted many of these boxes would have been received empty, but for no jewelery of any kind to show up I suspect someone has quite a little shadow franchise going on around here. :evil:


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## Chumbawamba

Check the silverware bins. You occasionally find some gems


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## Irons

Last year I picked up a pair of antique gold-rimmed glasses at a garage sale and the year before a sterling Slver Victorian era dish that weighed a pound and a half. I just missed a Sterling Ash tray at a church sale. I picked it up and noticed the hallmarks but my brain told me I didn't need an ash tray. The guy behind me grabbed it as I set it back down on the table.
My best find so far is a Queen Ann pattern pewter tray from the 17th Century for a quarter.


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## Chumbawamba

Hey Irons!

I've been getting good at identifying and distinguishing the marks on the various mugs, trays and utensils that are currently high on my attention span when I visit the local thrift stores. Whereas before I wouldn't be giving them a second thought, more recently I've been timidly acquiring gold-rimmed glasses and mugs with the idea to extract the gold from them. Now, I have no great ambition that this is going to result in any amount of gold worth boasting over, but at twenty five cents a pop for a glass on average, it doesn't seem like such a bad bet. I just wanted to be sure that it's really gold on those glasses and not some gold looking paint, as my wife thinks it is (she laughed at me, but we'll see who gets the last laugh here 

On that note, here is a mug that has the most "gold" on it that I've found so far. Something tells me this is a trick to make me buy cheap crap from Goodwill to help fund the many disadvantaged folks in this country, but the jury is still out. A quick stannous test with some scrapings from the bottom rim did not yield any clues. Either my SnCl2 is no good, or I did something wrong (99.9% chance it is the latter). I found similar mugs online ("Designed by Hickok", "Made in Japan" from the bottom of the mug were the search terms) but nothing that would indicate one way or another if it's real gold. This mug is ugly enough that I won't have any qualms about busting it apart to find out for sure  I suppose an AP bath on the relevant pieces would be the way to go?



I've so far managed to find lots of silver-plated pieces, some eating utensils which I suspect might be pure Sterling, and the occasional gold plated utensils (one cake serving spade with "22K" plating that is heavily worn). Again, the plated items are probably not going to result in a huge yield of metal, but at the prices I'm paying for this stuff (and considering where silver is going in terms of paper currency) makes it an easy decision.


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## butcher

I recover gold from ceramics and glassware, using hcl/bleach, plating is very thin most of the time, so caution on purchase price.
you will find some marked in the karat gold plating.
you will find other metal platings also like silver.
on glass plating is usually so thin if held up to light you can see through it, it will look kinda green (base metal its plated on.
large plastic pan works to hold plates, best to save up dishe's till you get a pile of them, to save on chemical volume.

on plated silverware check with magnet before processing batch.


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## Chumbawamba

Hey Butcher.

Do you break up the items before soaking in HCl-Cl or do you leave them intact and simply submerge the gold-plated parts in the solution?


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## butcher

Most of the time leave them whole, finding plastic dish pan ect to hold the item, and save up till you I have enough items to justify volume of liqiud needed, most of the time the glass items, are donated back, but if you are just expirementing with a few items breaking them would use less acid volume, and they would fit smaller container, an intersting thing sometimes the material that they use to plate gold to the glass starts to plate out gold in solutions that sit quite awhile, when oxidizers and chlorine level fall low, I kinda thought these might make good plating solutions, if could learn more about them. or could be used in some type of gold cell?


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## netseeker

The Goodwill stores in the Dallas area have a weekly auction at a central location(their main distribution is guess) where they auction just about everything imaginable. I would assume this would be the case elsewhere but I don't know. It's a guessing game on what they have every week and whether they have anything worth scrapping but you never know and you might get lucky.


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## Anonymous

The Goodwill and Salvation Army stores around Northern VA don't have much in the way of gold or even electronics. (unless you want $5 VCRs or giant CRT TVs) Lots of silver items though, seems to be the unwanted metal of choice here.

BMag


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## Irons

Your Goodwill source for jewelry:

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/listings/listbycat.asp?catid=6

An end of Year gift. Happy New Year.


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## Platdigger

Thank You!
And a Happy New Year to you too Irons... 8)


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## Irons

Platdigger said:


> Thank You!
> And a Happy New Year to you too Irons... 8)



May you find many treasures, but don't forget that the greatest treasure is a happy home.


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## resabed01

I've been looking at various stores here with different degrees of success. I find the Goodwill stores here are priced high. We have a store chain called Value Village that has better prices but they are a for profit group so I try to avoid them if I can. I won't bother picking up any plated dishes/cups/glasses because I can usually find this stuff for free elsewhere. Paying one or two dollars for a plated item probably isn't going to be profitable. Anything karat gold is usually priced way over spot (yes, I do carry a scale) or picked over and long gone. I did find a homemade ring of twisted gold/copper/silver that was worth picking up. Lots and lots of plated jewelry can be found cheap if you're into processing that stuff.

One area I've had good luck in is silver. I spend some time sifting through the jewelry and it seems I always find some sterling worth buying. Carry a good magnifying lens, a magnet and a small pocket scale when shopping and it helps to know the spot prices too.
Good luck


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## JRH

I know of a freind of mine told me of his retired former employer who has built a silver stripping cell in a 30 gallon plastic drum. He is buying old silverplated items from the thrift stores and yardsales and stripping them in the cell. He is then taking the stripped copper items and buffing them on a polishing wheel with jeweler's rouge and reselling the polished copper items at the flea market for several times what he paid for them and is planning on recoverying the silver from the cell once it is saturated. :lol:


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## Barren Realms 007

JRH said:


> I know of a freind of mine told me of his retired former employer who has built a silver stripping cell in a 30 gallon plastic drum. He is buying old silverplated items from the thrift stores and yardsales and stripping them in the cell. He is then taking the stripped copper items and buffing them on a polishing wheel with jeweler's rouge and reselling the polished copper items at the flea market for several times what he paid for them and is planning on recoverying the silver from the cell once it is saturated. :lol:



Ask him what kind of solution he is useing.


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## JRH

Ok I have got more details on the system that he is using. He has a 30gal. drum set inside of a 55gal. drum with a layer of sand in between. The double drum set up serves to keep the inner cell from buldging from the weight of the electrolyte, and also gives added protection in the event of a leak. 
For an electrolyte he is using 2lbs of copper sulfate per 15 gallons of sulfuric acid. Power source is a 12volt battery charger. He is attaching a lead to the item he is stripping and the opposite lead to a copper pipe down in the solution. He did not say whether the SA was concentrated or battery acid. I have e-mailed him for a clarification on this.


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## Chumbawamba

Hi JRH.

Thanks for the write up. This is super easy and I've been getting a lot of plated stuff from thrift stores lately so this is perfect.

A couple questions I would want to know are is he using anything special for the leads or is it just the battery charger clip? And if so, I assume the clip isn't affected by the acid or acid/voltage combination? Because I assume it will have to be immersed in the solution to some extent. Probably a dumb question answered elsewhere already but I don't have time to go searching.

Thanks!


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## JRH

If the clip is immersed eventually it would deteriortae completely. I would use a jumper with a more acid resistive clip, or immerse the object to be stripped only up to the clip, then reattach the clip on the opposite end and immerse the object to strip the remaining bit of plating.


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## Barren Realms 007

JRH, 

Thanks for the update on this let us know what you find out on the concentration of SA. I have a feeling he might be using a diluted version but I am probably wrong on that. 

I'v got heavy duty 30 gal drums. If you get ready to use a drum this big you can probably just cut the top out, be sure and leave the suporting top band on the drum and you should be ok. I have had a drum like this for months and no problem to the drum. I guess you could call it my stock pot but no steel in it to drop metals just the left over solutions.


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## Barren Realms 007

JRH said:


> If the clip is immersed eventually it would deteriortae completely. I would use a jumper with a more acid resistive clip, or immerse the object to be stripped only up to the clip, then reattach the clip on the opposite end and immerse the object to strip the remaining bit of plating.



I would keep the charger ends away if possible and use #6 copper wire or some extra welding cable for jumpers. And I would wash the charger leads when finished to make sure no chemical residue left to eat at the leads. I need to replace the ones on mine because I haven't done this and they have gotten attacked.


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## qst42know

The clips are easy to replace if you solder a lug to the end of the wire and seal it.

You can buy heat shrink tubing with a coating of hot glue on the inside or if your frugal ( = cheap) like me, after soldering the lug wipe with a stick of hot glue to apply a thin coat, and allow it to cool before sliding on the heat shrink tube. Then when you shrink the tubing the glue seals the wire and it won't rot from the inside out. This works great for automotive wiring as well.


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## Irons

qst42know said:


> The clips are easy to replace if you solder a lug to the end of the wire and seal it.
> 
> You can buy heat shrink tubing with a coating of hot glue on the inside or if your frugal ( = cheap) like me, after soldering the lug wipe with a stick of hot glue to apply a thin coat, and allow it to cool before sliding on the heat shrink tube. Then when you shrink the tubing the glue seals the wire and it won't rot from the inside out. This works great for automotive wiring as well.



If all you have is regular shrink tubing, a squirt of alcohol-based Silicone sealer, before you shrink it, works great. Don't use the Acetic Acid based sealer (smells like strong vinegar) It's very corrosive to electrical equipment.

My pain is your Gain.


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## bid_slayer88

Oh my lanta I have made out like a mad man. refinning might be new for me but gold and silver oh no buy sell trade. My mom works at a thrift store were I have dib's on siver not much gold ( now I get all the free computer tower I want now haaa) as far as salvation army I have done killer there. Good will though not soo good they got appraisers around here. there alot of religious nic-nack thrift stores around here I go to and do ok. Best was a marked 14kt 18gm neck lace for $1.00 not twenty years ago but LAST YEAR :lol: . Bust If I'am getting into this refining thing thrift stores are my best friend!!!!


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## Anonymous

Are there precious metals in ALL circuit boards? I know there is in computer parts but want to know if tearing apart old or non-working printers would a good source for boards? Would appreciate any help with this. I am very new to this and i am still trying to learn the different sources of precious metals, specifically gold.


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## Barren Realms 007

sdevers said:


> Are there precious metals in ALL circuit boards? I know there is in computer parts but want to know if tearing apart old or non-working printers would a good source for boards? Would appreciate any help with this. I am very new to this and i am still trying to learn the different sources of precious metals, specifically gold.



You can find some stuff in them, but not a lot.

View attachment 20327561-Scrap-Parts-Comp-Identification.pdf


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## resabed01

Lately We've been doing much better at Goodwill. I've got the wife pretty much trained to sniff out anything worthwhile. She stumbled upon one store in particular that clears out all their old stock jewelry by bagging 2 or 3 pounds at a time and selling the lot for less than $10. We'll grab these whenever they come up and haven't been disappointed with one yet. The bulk of the jewelry is cheap costume garbage that is of no value to anyone except our young nieces that happily get to pick through and take what they want. Then there is plenty of gold plated jewelry thats good for the stripping cell. We always find some sterling in these along with the odd karat gold piece. So far the PM value of the lot always excees the purchase price. For example, the last one we bought had a pair of 22K earrings that weighed out at 3.5g


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## Chumbawamba

Hi sdevers,

Try here:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=6696


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## Anonymous

They are popular here for gold and silver. Mostly the help finds it when rumaging through clothing, purses, etc. upon receipt. You could talk to someone at your local store and be their buyer. Just pay a little more than 50 percent and it's prob yours. You are beating the other local stores. That is if you are refining or have an outlet at close to spot.


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## kmggold

Scrap is always available at Goodwill, Salvation Army Thrift Stores and Value Village. Gold buyers and gold sellers always check them out. The tricky part is to tell if its precious or plated. 
This is a good resource for gold hallmarks and gold stamps http://www.kmggold.com/faq-kmg-plated-precious.cfm
Mike


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## philddreamer

In the area that I live is harder than ever to find such good deals. 
For more that 25 years my wife & I have visited the second hand stores, garage & yard sales, flee markets... People have wised up. :| 
So for my refining, (& collecting) hobby, my search has taken me to the pawn shops. They have scrap, but charge like .999 & over spot.
I decided to visit a coin store where a good friend of my son works & the photo shows the scrap they sell. 6 of the 10 coins are stamped .999 the other 4 sterling. I paid for 10oz., he gave my 12 for my money. I know where to go now for my scrap silver. :lol: 

Oh, we'll still be hoping from g sale to g sale, the second hand stores & gold panning... it's all prospecting!  

philddreamer


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## user 12009

Chumbawamba said:


> more recently I've been timidly acquiring gold-rimmed glasses


There are a lot of gold colored frames out there not worth squat.

Look on the inside of the nose bridge. The good ones say 12K 1/20 GF or simular. Some could be 1/10. some only say 12K GF, those are probably 1/20th. Other GF sources fountain pen nibs and older watches. Believe it or not I have bought a few Spidel twist-o-flex gold filled bands. usually only the top parts are GF. Everything else is stainless and springs.


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## philddreamer

I found a couple of gold plated frames outside of the display enclosures. I guess the store read a different set of numbers &thought they were not gold plated. I took one look & knew they were the real thing. In europe they use a different mark, 2 digits, a square, 2 digits. I check the net & found one outfit that comfirmed my hunch. Stepper_Mens_Metal Au Plated has a catalog & shows the different numerations.

Keep that in mind, my friends, next time you see them golden spectacles! :lol: 

philddreamer


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## qst42know

Gold plate doesn't require the markings of gold filled. Gold filled is a specific quantity and karat of gold based on the weight of the item, gold plate can be much thinner than filled.

The numbers you found have to do with fit of the eyeglasses. A 56[]14, means simply a 56mm lens at 14mm apart. 

Glasses with these markings can have any number of finishes, paint, chrome, brass, or yes even a small amount of gold.


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## philddreamer

Thanks qst42know!

I stand corrected. :lol: 

philddreamer


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## triplemgold

I just read this thread and hit up the goodwill closest to me.
I got 3 grams of 14k for 25$ total!
Im adding that place into my list for places to search


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## philddreamer

Way to go, brother! 8)


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## Pilgrim2850

I have 8 Goodwills in my area that I have been buying gold plated china and silver plated things. About a month ago I bought a pair of candle sticks that were sterling silver for $10. After I took the weights out of them I had 131g of sterling silver.......best find yet! And no, I didn't destroy good candle sticks.....they were all dented up. Larry


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## esrqc

Irons said:


> Your Goodwill source for jewelry:
> 
> http://www.shopgoodwill.com/listings/listbycat.asp?catid=6
> 
> An end of Year gift. Happy New Year.



Thank You,it's a couple of year later,Newbie just found this terrific forum. Thanks again


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## mlgdave

I just bought a pair of 1/20 gf 12k for 2 bucks, brought them home and voila they have 1/2 gram total of pure AU. This was my first buy of anything GF and im now hooked to look! I will be doing garage sales and stuff now, I need to learn about plated and dishes and whether they are worth the effort. I am buying scrap karat gold but need to up my volume to make a living

mlgdave


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## DarkspARCS

I've been checking the local charities, lots of hallmarked items and plated housewares.

A couple days ago I managed to acquire a hallmarked 'HARRODS LONDON G.W.' gold plated plate... for $8 bucks!










*Wonders how much gold be on me booty!....* :twisted:


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## trashmaster

I would put it on ebay ;;;; and find out;;;


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## qst42know

There are many posts for calculating gold plating value. A great big circle should be easy. :mrgreen:


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## DarkspARCS

lol... the dang thing is so reflective, I think I'll start signalling airline pilots with it as they fly overhead! :lol:


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## copperkid_18

trashmaster said:


> I would put it on ebay ;;;; and find out;;;




I put a similar one on a while back and only got $5!!


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## Oz

copperkid_18 said:


> I put a similar one on a while back and only got $5!!


Was it hallmarked "Harrod's? Harrods has name recognition and may be more collectable.


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## copperkid_18

Oz said:


> copperkid_18 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I put a similar one on a while back and only got $5!!
> 
> 
> 
> Was it hallmarked "Harrod's? Harrods has name recognition and may be more collectable.
Click to expand...

 No, it wasn't...


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## DarkspARCS

Not only is this hallmarked "Harrods London", but evidently the hallmark design is Harrod's 20th century mark, as the 21st century mark reads "Harrods LTD.". The plate creator, "G.W." was a well known designer durring that era, having been comissioned by several of the big British noble metals housewares manufacturers.




That makes the plate an antique as well...

Fast forward to 2011... Harrods is sold by Mohamed Al Fayed to the Qatari royal family for £1.5 billion... Now the plate makes another collectable notch for its pedigree, as being a relic from the original Harrods of London's marquee ownership...


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## Richard36

These are my recent finds from prospecting second hand stores.
It's true, you don't always have to "Shake a pan", or "Bust some rock", in order to find some gold and/or silver.

I paid $0.80 for the earrings, $0.25 for the eyeglass frames, 
and $5.00 for the Sterling Silver fork, which weighs 35.46 grams.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## Barren Realms 007

Richard36 said:


> These are my recent finds from prospecting second hand stores.
> It's true, you don't always have to "Shake a pan", or "Bust some rock", in order to find some gold and/or silver.
> 
> I paid $0.80 for the earrings, $0.25 for the eyeglass frames,
> and $5.00 for the Sterling Silver fork, which weighs 35.46 grams.
> 
> Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".



And we thought you were just a rock hound. 8)


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## Richard36

I recover/refine gold/silver from scrap the same as everyone else here.
It's just that "Rocks and Minerals" are a much larger hobby for me.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## trashmaster

I went to the Salvation Army store here 2 weeks ago and picked up 11 computers (6 complete and 5 striped only MB and pwr sup.) paid $10.00 :lol: :lol: :lol: 

ladies ring with small stones (marked 18kt ) weight w/stones 2 gr. price $ 3.00  

I noticed some copper cables and asked what she did with them ? She said scrap ;; I told her how to cut the ends off and save the cables and get more money for them:: She was very happy :lol: and is now saving all her e-scrap just for me...

When she hires 2 new drivers I am going there to train them on how to scrap all of the diff. base matals.


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## jobforce

Smart move Trashmaster! You landed yourself a nice steady stream of e-waste for few minutes of your time. Sweet!


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## Militoy

Our local Goodwill is kind of overpriced, and very well picked over by locals in the morning (when I'm at work). We do have around 20 independant thrift stores in town (I live about 30 minutes drive out in the "sticks") that sometimes have some very good deals though. My daughter's boyfriend has recently picked up my hobby of PM recycling. About 3 weeks ago, they visited one of the more rural stores, and he picked up a ziplock freezer bag of 18 gold-plated CPU's for $2. Only 2 of the chips in the bag were Pentium Pro's - and a couple were of the fiber / Kovar ("iron") pin types - but I thought he did pretty well! My best deals have been at garage/yard sales. I picked up almost 5 pounds of gold-plated military connector pins with 4 plastic sorting bins for $20 at a sale last year. At another sale, I bought 3 nice pieces of Black Hills gold jewelry from a "$1 table" of costume jewelry. I bought several pieces of obvious junk as well - just to camouflage the good pieces, and to keep my hand from shaking as I handed over the $5 bill!


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## trashmaster

Hi jobforce : Welcome to the best FORUM on the internet   and the best group of people on this earth..   

I plan to go back each week to the Salvation Army Store and make sure that they are RECYCLING correctly to get the most return for there scrap ..

paul


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## Richard36

Here's a couple more items that I found. 

The money clip is 1/20 12 kt gold fill that I bought for $0.50.
The "Avon Love Ring" is 14 kt Gold Plated and was bought at a Church Rummage Sale for $1.00.










I think that I did well.

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## jaythenutz

near where i live in California we have a thrift franchise called savers i hit it a couple times a week. looking mostly for silver . on aver per week i get 5 good pieces for $.33 per. They have got the gold jewelry tried and wanted. But i comb the kitchen ware dep. And have come up big a couple of time. for example i got a silver bowl like the size of a cereal bowl for three bucks. what caught me eye about one it was numbered two the tarnish black yes i know plate tarnishes the same way. Except this bowl had pits inside top to bottom.( wear not design) black as well with a1/2 inch base. heck 3 bucks ill roll the dice .and CHU-ching i did some research the had it appraised made in late 1700 solid silver 4 1/2 lbs .i had no emotional attachment to it got $320 for at American precious metals . Plus i have a guy who give my 5 bucks for every numbered piece of silverware i bring him. i pay .33 each.// so to answer ur question YES consistency is the key. well for me. silver seams to go under the radar. //// JAY


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## stihl88

Plated Silver is usually more darker (Blacker) than Sterling Silver due to the higher purity of the Plating medium, the darker it tarnishes. Sterling is usually more of a brownish black tarnish. But when you are looking at items that are missing their Hallmarks don't just go by the tarnish color of course.

That 4 1/2 lb bowl would fetch a happy premium nowadays!


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## ArsenRefineries

Chumbawamba said:


> This mug is ugly enough that I won't have any qualms about busting it apart to find out for sure  I suppose an AP bath on the relevant pieces would be the way to go?



Likely a coating over the gold though. Some lye should remove it... Curious as to returns on dishes. Even enough there to warrant recovery? Chemicals cost more?


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## Claudie

I ran mine in Hcl/Bleach, came right off. I doubt that AP would do anything to it. Why would you suggest Lye ArsenRefineries?


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## philddreamer

Claudie, I think lye for removing the "coat" that's over the gold...

But I, like you, haven't had any problems, yet, with a coating; HCl/Cl & the gold comes right off.


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## Claudie

I haven't ran into any that had a coating over them yet.


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## tranqmorne

I have been looking at goodwills when i can but i have had better luck at a second hand store run by a assisted living community by my house.. seems less picked over.


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## herbbartley

I had a deal with our local Goodwill store for a while for the e-scrap. I got all their e-scrap for free but I had to take everything and I had to come at least once a week. I live in a small town and the volume of material was still huge. There were a lot of printers and giant crt tv's and crap but I repair some stuff. It just got to be too much to keep up with when I got a real job and I had to tell them that I could no longer be counted on to come regularly. I was unemployed when I made the deal.


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## ilyaz

herbbartley said:


> I had a deal with our local Goodwill store for a while for the e-scrap. I got all their e-scrap for free but I had to take everything and I had to come at least once a week. I live in a small town and the volume of material was still huge. There were a lot of printers and giant crt tv's and crap but I repair some stuff. It just got to be too much to keep up with when I got a real job and I had to tell them that I could no longer be counted on to come regularly. I was unemployed when I made the deal.



I called my local Goodwill the other day to ask them about what they do with the computers they get. Turns out the "juiciest" stuff -- laptops and desktops -- get sold to the Dell Reconnect program. I asked them how much they are getting paid for them but got no response so far. Does Goodwill in your area do it? Do you know how much they are getting?


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## philddreamer

One day I went to get some coffee pots @ one the Goodwills in my area & they had 2 pallets, 6' high each of pc's!!! 
I almost hit a line of parked cars trying to talk to the guy so I could buy them. He said, NO! These go to the main warehouse in Seattle, then to L.A., CA. That was the end of the conversation...


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## darshevo

We're 100% screwed here in Washington Phil. Goodwill is a certified e-cycle dropoff point. They get paid by the lb to handle CRTs, tvs, laptops and pc's. They won't let go of any of the PCs as it might cause them to lose their lucrative CRT subsidy. I too have tried to weasel my way in, but no dice


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## 1badcfh

A friend of mine at work has been doing this for years and has been trying to get me to do it. I finally bought a grab bag for $10 at Goodwill and found some sterling and a 14k necklace...I got the itch. He told me I was super lucky because 3 out of 5 I have bought has brought in about 100 grams of gold. A bunch of cut up class rings was the main weight but I also found some 14k stuff as well, not to mention 3 onces of silver. So I now have a test kit, scale and jewlers loop 3 weeks into it and loving it. My friend asked me to go prospecting with him this weekend with a new dry washer but I'm kind of liking the picking through jewelry in the AC. It's hot as hell here in the Phoenix desert!


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## ProSmelter

hows this haul, took me 4 trips to various goodwill stores and 2 weeks, so say around 45 minutes alltogether........and I spent around 20 bucks!!!


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## 1badcfh

Was it all marked or did you buy some knowing pretty much it was silver and confirm by testing it?


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## micronationcreation

I purchased a secondhand book online recently and this fell out, 

its a solid 925 silver page marker made by tiffany & co :mrgreen:


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## philddreamer

How much does it weigh?


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## micronationcreation

It only weighs 6 grams,

I saw a rabbit shaped one on ebay, sellers asking for $100 lol


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## goldsilverpro

Don't put any chemicals on it. Being Tiffany would probably make it worth much more than the silver content, although I'm sure you realize that. I would certainly keep an eye on this auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTHENTIC-TIFFANY-CO-STERLING-SILVER-MUSICAL-CLEF-3-BOOKMARK-/330615653942?pt=Designer_Jewelry&hash=item4cfa3a8636


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## micronationcreation

Thanks GSP, i thought i did a thorough search. :roll:


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## goob

I found a 28 gram .925 bracelet in a bag of mixed costume jewelry I bought at a goodwill store yesterday for $1. There is occasionally some good stuff in goodwill stores, but usually that stuff gets pulled out to be sold auction style on their website. I've talked pretty extensively to one of the managers of a local goodwill store, and it seems that the really nice stuff gets through on occasion because sometimes the people doing the sorting are there for community service.


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## triffid

Some years back I was involved in some experiments at removing gold and silver from plated objects(gold and silver).I used only copper sulfate(blue crystals)which I could pick up cheaply from a feed store.I used a 12 volt battery charger.As a result I saw both gold and silver particles swirling in the blue solution.So I did something similar to what the guy with the 30 gallon cell did but I used no sulfuric acid.Later I learned that this is a way to refine copper.So anything plated over the copper comes off and settles to the bottom of your tank.I do like the barrel setup.I think real gold contacts could be used without corroding them.Gold plate over copper would come off.Lead contacts might work too???But I have not tried them.So I would use only copper sulfate(blue crystals which when added to water makes a strong blue solution).Much safer than having all that sulfuric acid in there.I liked the method of removing gold plate from glass and cermarics.I will have to try that sometime.


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## triffid

You can also see your layer of goodies building up at the bottom of your tank,barrel whatever as your pm mud builds up..


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## triffid

I should add that you could set up two tanks.One to deplate silver using only copper sulfate water solution And the other for gold plated objects using only sulfuric acid(battery acid from auto zone is ok to use).Both methods require a battery charger.Be careful with the acid tank.


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## niteliteone

triffid said:


> I should add that you could set up two tanks.One to deplate silver using only copper sulfate water solution And the other for gold plated objects using only sulfuric acid(battery acid from auto zone is ok to use).Both methods require a battery charger.Be careful with the acid tank.



It sounds like you are offering incomplete or bad information on how to process this material safely.

Can you give a detailed step by step process of how you are suggesting on how to do this processing.

Tom C.


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## Pilgrim2850

Hi Everyone,

Why is this post even in "anyone ever find scrap at goodwill?" What does it have to do with finding scrap at Goodwill. Sounds like a chemical process or refining method, but nothing to do with Goodwill.

larry


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## Smack

Things don't always end up like they start, people get side tracked.


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## butcher

Larry,Goodwill has raised there price's so much I will not shop there, But I frequently visit salvation army and several other second hand stores, much of my lab supplies are from these stores, sometimes I even run into plated materials, did find one sterling silver cup somebody missed.

Now there is something about goodwill posted here.
( :lol: happy now pilgrim?)


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## triffid

The only way my info was incomplete was that normally sulfuric acid does not dissolve gold but once an electric current is flowing through it it takes on a form that does dissolve gold.Once the current stops then the gold falls out of solution to the bottom of the tank.As far as finding scrap at goodwill I think if you have to pay for it you will not succeed at making money here.Free is always better.That goodwill website hits you with shipping and handling charges too.


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## triffid

As far as lab safety goes it cannot be preached enough.I assume that those here involved already with acids,etc know the dangers.All I was trying to do was to share my own experiences after someone else said something about using a 30 gallon cell to deplate silver plated objects.They used two electrolytes for silver plated objects.I know only one is required.The copper sulfate solution will take off the silver plate all by itself with the aid of an electric current.No need to fool with sufuric acid if deplating silver plated copper objects is all what you want to do.


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## Pilgrim2850

Butch.....................why the smart remark directed toward me? I was just trying to keep the thread on subject.


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## Oz

Butcher is one of the most easy going guys you will ever meet. Having said that, he was trying to give you the content you desired in this thread. 

Please do not let this convoluted thread create a misunderstanding. Butcher is one of the best friends you could ever ask for if you want to learn refining.

One man’s opinion.


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## Harold_V

I had a long post prepared in regards to the comments towards butcher, but decided against posting. It was deleted instead. Now I'm not so sure that was a good idea. 

A little friendly advice. 

As has already been stated, butcher is one of the good guys on this forum. He's more than willing to lend a hand, even when the recipient may not be worthy. He treats readers with considerable respect and is not known for being aggressive. He is also insightful and knowledgeable. He can be anyone's best friend, assuming that is desired. 

By sharp contrast, a new reader comes to the forum, asking a question that, maybe, would have been best not asked. Anyone with experience on a bullet board should be familiar with the fact that subject matter tends to wander, often with great results. The only real negative to getting off topic is that good information is often difficult to locate at a later date, because it may not be related to the subject matter in a meaningful way. 

We get along on this forum. Those that can't, or won't, are quickly dispatched. I see to it. I often do so with reckless abandon, because I learned, long ago, it's not a good idea to try to teach a pig to sing. 

So then, Pilgrim2850, lose the notion that you were set upon. That didn't happen----it's all in your mind. Do not make an issue over nothing. It leads to a dead end as far as this forum is concerned. 

Keep one thing uppermost in your mind when you choose to post anything that's the least bit controversial, or can be easily construed as an attack on readers. *I do not suffer fools gladly*. 

Harold


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## butcher

Pilgrim, I have not been keeping up with all of the reading here on the forum, and did not see this until today, I am sorry that I have not seen your concern given you an answer sooner.

I was just making a joke.

I am very sorry if you felt that my comment was a smart ask remark directed at you, (not being able to see each other and facial expressions, I see how when we post something it can be misunderstood), you misunderstood.

Actually I was trying to help the subject return to goodwill.

I had no reason to give a remark towards you for wanting to keep on topic, and believe you were right to try and keep the topic on goodwill.

The Happy now pilgrim, thing reminded me of John Wayne.

Hope we are both good and happy now pilgrim (my friend).

I am sorry to others if I caused this rucus here it was not intended.

Pilgrim this forum is not like others on the web, members here respect each other, we do not always get along, but we do not make hateful remarks (especially to our friends here on the forum).

Edit to add: Pilgrim if I can help you with question, I will try the best I can, that is my purpose here, to learn from you, what you learn, and to help you learn, what I learn.

so lets get back to helping each other Pilgrim.


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## Pilgrim2850

Butcher,

Please forgive me for misconscrueing your post. I apologize to any and all that I offended. I have learned a lot from your posts and look forward to more and more. I am just a poor dumb 61 yr old carpenter and am trying to learn this wonderful hobby, but I learn by doing, not so much just reading. I wish I had of started 30 yrs ago and then I could be contributing to this forum. As it is, I'm just learning as much as I can and I've been saving goodies for a couple of years. I appreciate you Butcher and consider you a friend also. Thanks for your kindness. 

Now that I know the remark was in the John Wayne voice..........it was AWESOME!!!!!!


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## niteliteone

Glad we are one big happy family.

Tom C.


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## joem

niteliteone said:


> Glad we are one big happy family.
> 
> Tom C.


 8)


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## kadriver

My wife bought a small gold pendant with a large CZ, about 1.1 carat at the Community Thrift Store.

The gold was not marked, so the people at the thrift store did not think it was gold. They marked it for $1.99 and put it out in the jewelry case.

Well, if it is not gold, then there is no way that the stone could be a real diamond - right?

She bought the piece for $1.99 for the gold only - I throw CZs away by the dozens.

When she got it home we tested the gold and it was in fact 14k. We also tested the stone to verify that it was a CZ before we tossed it.

To our astonishement, the stone was a REAL DIAMOND!

She took it to the Gold & Diamond exchange near here to see if there was any value to it (you'd be surprised how little value diamonds have - unless they are big). They offered her $1200 for it on the spot.

She did not sell it to them, instead she decided to keep it.

I can't believe her luck. She has become an expert in identifying treasure.

kadriver


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## Pilgrim2850

That is truely a BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great pick.


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## kadriver

The Goodwill Stores here where I live do not have a jewelry case to display the jewelry that they get in for resale.

Instead, they get an old clear class flower vase, the kind you get when you receive a bunch of flowers, and fill it with all the jewelry that they can pack into it.

Then they put clear packing tape over the top to seal it up, put a $30 price tag on it and set it out on the counter at the front of the store.

I have seen people literally get into fights over trying to be the first to get at that vase full of jewelry.

One time I got lucky and walked into the store at the exact moment that the "jewelry jar" was being placed on the front counter. I grabbed it and looked through the glass - I spotted a gold chain so I bought it.

When I got it home it was like a bonanza! I found two 14k gold watches with leather bands, two sets of 10k gold earrings and a 14k gold chain.

But these finds are few and far between. I have not gotten one since that single time.

One thing is for certain: you have to be there right when it gets put out, or it gets taken by someone else and you get nothing!

kadriver


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## metatp

I just got two little sterling silver bowls/cups for a dollar each. They were weighted, but after the weights were removed, the sterling weighed 33.6g each. Someone put them over near the baby cars seats. I was just there looking for a coax cable. Didn't get the cable, but that's ok. :lol:


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## macfixer01

kadriver said:


> My wife bought a small gold pendant with a large CZ, about 1.1 carat at the Community Thrift Store.
> 
> The gold was not marked, so the people at the thrift store did not think it was gold. They marked it for $1.99 and put it out in the jewelry case.
> 
> Well, if it is not gold, then there is no way that the stone could be a real diamond - right?
> 
> She bought the piece for $1.99 for the gold only - I throw CZs away by the dozens.
> 
> When she got it home we tested the gold and it was in fact 14k. We also tested the stone to verify that it was a CZ before we tossed it.
> 
> To our astonishement, the stone was a REAL DIAMOND!
> 
> She took it to the Gold & Diamond exchange near here to see if there was any value to it (you'd be surprised how little value diamonds have - unless they are big). They offered her $1200 for it on the spot.
> 
> She did not sell it to them, instead she decided to keep it.
> 
> I can't believe her luck. She has become an expert in identifying treasure.
> 
> kadriver




Wow, truly amazing! I think I'd feel compelled to make a little cash donation to help make up for my good fortune on that one. I'm not saying that you should feel compelled, to each his own and maybe you give back in other ways. Hell if I stop at a gas station that actually has a working public restroom anymore I feel compelled to at least buy a bottle of pop or a candy bar while I'm there. Anyway good luck on more finds like that one!

macfixer01


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## pacomdiver

jrh

did you ever get that info about the sulfuric, if it was battery acid or concentrated?


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