Big bunch of questions regarding using a refinery!

[MarjoriesGems]

Hi and thank you for reading my post.
We have been dealing with a gold buyer who
then deals with a refinery and we feel we may be
able to surpass them now. We usually process
500 dwts a week of 10/14/18k and 100-150 ozt of
sterling.

We took a trip to New York yesterday and tried out a
refinery. They were very helpful and essentially held our hand
through the whole process.

We had our silver assayed and melted down, as with our
gold filled.

I was wondering should I mixed my sterling flatware and jewelry when
it is assayed down? Or should I keep it seperate for a higher percentage?
We had it seperated this week and our jewelry came in at 87.36% from 92.5%
I was shocked at such a loss. Even our flatware went down 2%.

We only did an acid test on our gold and they used .5625 to figure gold vs. .585. Which I can understand. Now, we have been doing this for years
and we are very straight forward. We pay 85% for gold and 75% for silver.
We have a slim margin.

Would gold pay out more if we had it assayed togther?

How should we go about this?

What is the best way to keep your silver percentage over 90%?

I know I have more questions but can't think of them now.

Thanks for much again for taking the time to read my post,
and hopefully thanks for your answers!

 

[Geo]

hallmarks lie.did all the jewelry have a .925 stamp? its possible you may have had some bogus pieces slip past into the mix. silver jewelry isnt just .925, which im sure your aware of.some jewelry from other countries have odd percentages in the metal makeup.

 

[MarjoriesGems]

I understand hallmarks lie,
But I just feel like we were man handled
on the sterling. Is it normal to drop that much?

 

[glondor]

That is the bugger of not refining your own.
You have to do the math and see how many ounces are possibly missing or unaccounted for of your silver. Pick a safe "real" number for your silver as a starting point. I use 91.5% for sterling. Math it out with a real number like this and work out the accountability and when you have the numbers you have to review your recollection of the lot and ask yourself if it was possible that XXX ounces was not real.

If it seems possible, try again with more care. Maybe only submit a selection of sterling you are "sure" is .925.

See how it goes. If the assay comes back in the high 80% range, you are getting gaffed.

If it comes back in the low 90% range (91-92%) you are good. Perhaps some fake did get in your first lot after all.

I do not understand the .5625 figure over the .585 figure. Are they just guessing the assay? You should be paid on the actual assay value rather than a discounted value.

 

[MarjoriesGems]

If they dont assay it then pay on .5625.

If we dont clip off the backs of pins etc... on the sterling
will that bring down our overall assay?

 

[nickvc]

It doent take a great deal of base metal to bring an assay down. The advice on working your sterling at 915 is good as this is realistic figure so long as you don't get stiffed either buying or selling.
When I buy scrap I always check for springs and base metal catches and make allowances for stones, the spring in cigarette cases is base metal with a silver button and I have had Indian silver as low as 70% and some at 90%, it's all experience and even after all these years I still miss the odd thing, not too bad on silver but it hurts on gold

 

[Lou]

I know a guy who buys about 15,000 ounces a week at 95% of spot at 92% assay for sterling.

He says 920 is a good average. I don't know if I agree. I've seen it all over the place.

 

[glondor]

"If they dont assay it then pay on .5625."

Could you please explain this a bit more?

From what I understand ,you are melting mixed karat scrap together and getting paid at .5625 for all of it with no assay??