Don,
A reed switch is a pair or more of thin base metal strips with a contact point that is made of Pd, Au, Silver, or an alloy thereof. Older reed switches and some current ones are housed in glass tubes to isolate them from the environment. Leaf switches are also called reed switches at times.
The points are very tiny and sometimes difficult to harvest.
Here's a photo of one out of a VCR loading mechanism (open air leaf switch type)
[img:538:414]http://www.goldrecovery.us/images/leaf_sw.jpg[/img]
Here's a photo of some points removed from another type of reed switch.
[img:270:717]http://www.goldrecovery.us/images/pd_contacts.jpg[/img]
These were removed with a set of large pliers from 55 two leaf switches. The total weight of all 110 points in the photo is 0.75 grams. The points in this picture are Pd 100%.
Steve