# cremation



## Anonymous (Aug 22, 2009)

As gouhlish as it may sound, has anyone approached a crematorium about metals found in the remains of ashes? Or do they remove caps etc. before cremation?


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## butcher (Aug 22, 2009)

my guess remains go to family


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## Anonymous (Aug 22, 2009)

I do believe all remains go to the family. My neighbor received a few crowns, which where her mother's, after she was cremated.


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 22, 2009)

We used to have a guy in L.A. that worked in a crematorium that brought in about 30 oz of dental gold per month.


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## Harold_V (Aug 23, 2009)

One of my customers (a goldsmith) routinely included what surely was remains from cremations in his waste materials. I dare say it would be the rare situation whereby all of the values were returned to the family after a cremation. 

I have four full (gold & platinum group alloy) crowns that weigh a third of a troy ounce combined, plus two other teeth that are covered with gold. It often is worth the effort to sort the values from the remains, although, no doubt, not legal. 

Anything for a buck, or so it appears. 

Harold


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## butcher (Aug 23, 2009)

well I kinda thought that has happened as grave robbing gold and artifacts has always going on probably since beginning of man.


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## Recyclebiz_com (Sep 22, 2009)

Actually, in many places the next of kin sign an authorization for cremation which specifically states that the metallics (dental appliances, artificial joints, heart pacemaker wires and other implant leads, etc.) are either commingled with the cremains (ashes) or else separated out and "disposed of" by the cremator or funeral home. Actually, none of these metals will melt at the 1800 degrees (F) that most of these ovens operate at.

This is a great secret of the funeral industry - the percentage of families who give this a second thought is obviously tiny - and this is a wonderful source of secondary (untaxed and undeclared) profits to the industry. Very touchy subject in the industry, but the people who cremated my mother were quite open about it when I requested the metallics be returned to me after cremation. They also told me that when they remove a cardiac pacemaker they leave the platinum wires in the body, and they are frequently thrown away or sold as scrap metal - they were not even aware they were platinum!

I added a chapter to my book entitled "Mortuary Metals", for those interested.

Regards - Scott Andrews recyclebiz.com


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## Gold (Sep 22, 2009)

Scott,

Long time, no see.

Welcome back.


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## Recyclebiz_com (Sep 22, 2009)

Thanks - good to visit again - always interesting stuff being discussed here.


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