22kt gold foil collectable stamp replicas

[NicShaydes]

I am very interested in starting my own gold recovery project. I have dozens of cell phones, cards and memory sticks, and several old computers with all the internal components as well. I also have approx. 143 grams of 22kt gold foil collectable stamp replicas. The weight includes the foil front and paper backing. Being a beginner at this and having read multitudes of wonderfully informative posts and watched countless videos, I haven't found anyone reclaiming from anything likes these stamps or similiar. My questions are, "What would be the best processes to use for these stamps?" Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Be well,
Nic
8)

 

[jack_burton]

If you can, post a few pictures as it would help us see what you are working with.

 

[butcher]

NicShaydes
"I also have approx. 143 grams of 22kt gold foil collectable stamp replicas. "

I am not sure what these are, but the word replica tell me that they are not gold, but they may be a foil that "looks like the real 22K gold foil" even if these were real gold foil stamps, I do not think they would make much gold at all, and if they were real selling them to people who collect these stamps seems to me a better Idea.

Many times I am wrong, so now you will have to do some research to prove my thinking here wrong.

Just the sound of these makes me think of the imitation gold foils or flakes on the market.

There are many types of fools gold when your mining.

 

[NicShaydes]

Certainly. Apologies for poor pics. Its my cellphone camera.

Be well,
Nic
8)

 

[butcher]

If they are gold a drop of nitric will not hurt them, if they are not 22k gold you will notice a big hole and green liquid if copper is involved.

 

[jeneje]

I would think the value would be in finding a collector, not processing them, just a though.
Ken

 

[philddreamer]

Gold replicas of stamps were not issued by the post office, but rather by private companies seeking to profit from the hobby of stamp collecting. They are not catalogued and their value is speculative in nature. I've seen these items sell for $1 to $5 each on ebay.

There's some information here:
http://www.usstampcollections.com/golden-replicas-gold-2/

Phil

 

[NicShaydes]

These were issued by Postal Commemorative Society. I have attempted to sell these on ebay and privately but never got any offers of even $1 per each. So I'm not really concerned with their collectability. I would like to add them to my scrap efforts.

I have a new question too. The chemical costs seem to be rather high and the gold recovery seems to be very small. Is this really cost effective for any real profit? What are the margins like?

Be well,
Nic
8)

 

[Claudie]

It's called a hobby by many of us here, if that gives you any idea of the profits. :|

 

[Geo]

i scrapped about the same amount you showed in the bag. each is roughly about the same amount as you will find on a credit card or satellite receiver card.

 

[NicShaydes]

Does anyone have any idea what the rough amount of end product gold I might get from these? the gross weight is 143 grams right now. My math says thats over 5 oz. of raw materials. I would imagine the paper backing weighs more than the foil front. Is this even worth the effort? Could I just try to melt this stuff, burning off the paper?? Is that even a possiblity?

Be well,
Nic
8)

 

[Geo]

you can incinerate, but i would suggest that since the gold is so thin, you just go straight to hcl/cl. thats what i did. the solution will be a nice golden color because of the lack of base metal. filter paper and all rinsing well.

 

[NicShaydes]

Ok. Great. thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I will most likely have more questions as I explore this new "hobby". :lol:

 

[patnor1011]

Did you tested few of them with drop of nitric as it was suggested before?

 

[Kilost]

Certainly. Apologies for poor pics. Its my cellphone camera.

Be well,
Nic
8)

I know this is from 2012, if you are still on here, what did you end up doing with these? I have an opportunity to get my hands on a books worth of them and was wondering if it is worth it.

 

[Mark Looser]

I would be interested in the question above as I got my hands on about a dozen of those Postal Commemorative books. Maybe 400-500 stamps.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I would be interested in the question above as I got my hands on about a dozen of those Postal Commemorative books. Maybe 400-500 stamps.

As the previous poster said the post is from 2012

 

[Shark]

I would be interested in the question above as I got my hands on about a dozen of those Postal Commemorative books. Maybe 400-500 stamps.

Sell to collectors, a dozen of them processed for the gold will was so small I did not have scales that would weigh that small of an amount. I sold the rest for $3 each and made more money on them than the gold value.

 

[patnor1011]

Common logic say that if they sell as low as 1$ per piece on ebay then gold value will be probably and most likely about 1/3 of that amount maybe even less.

 

[Mark Looser]

I tried to sell them everywhere, no takers. So I removed the gold leaf stamp. I have about 400 of them...each one has some paper still attached to the back of the gold. Was wondering if I can burn the paper off or if there is a way to put all of them into some caldron or device and burn off/separate the paper. Assume I would be left with very little gold, but there would be some. Does anyone know of a process to do this? I have the time to do it, just not sure how to do this. I am a newbie in this field.