What is the best type of karat jewlery to buy for PM's

[oldgeek]

Ok, i have searched high and low for the answer to this question here, but i have not come up with anything solid.

Say i have a stream of karat GOLD jewelry to cherry pick the best items from for my "hobby" small scale refining. I plan to use inquartation to refine, and to collect the PGM in the cemented silver. Since i will be paying for only the karat gold value, (about 94% of spot) Which items should i pick as the best?

I am thinking items such as:
white gold from diamond settings?
lower karat items could have more silver?

Since i actually pay for the GOLD weight, i think there is reasonable profit potential.

Thanks,
Scotty

 

[texan]

Others may have a different figure but I believe 94 percent of spot is more than generous for buying scrap jewellry. Top price I have seen is 80 percent and most is much less. Your price does not leave much fudge factor on your side for refining...

Texan

 

[nickvc]

I will assume your in the US and will try to point out the obvious that rarely is the gold as marked, I believe up to 1/2 karat under is allowed unlike here in the UK where it has to be as denoted or is marked down to the next allowable hallmarking karat.
The best for you to buy is any 18k white gold and 14k white gold and any items with platinum or white gold heads as you will have Pd and Pt in the mix although it's not uncommon for white gold to be made up with nickel instead of Pd. The other point to realise is that the under karat 10k is already 5% under gold content while 18k is only 2.8% under that difference eats into your profits.
I might be wrong on how much under the karat gold is allowed to be so check it out and calculate the likely costs to yourself at your 94% payout to your customer.

 

[oldgeek]

Thanks for the information.

I agree there is LITTLE room for profit.
What i find hard to understand is this:

I know a gold buyer that always gets 94-95% of spot for his gold, when he resells it to his middle man. They settle in person, on the spot, no assay, each month, and has done so for years. He gets paid only for the gold weight, not for the small stones that may be left, not for any silver, and not for any PGM's that may be present. He also settles the same way for karat marked Pt.

To make it even more interesting, as he BUYS gold from individuals, he rarely tests a piece as he buys it, using only the the karat marks, and his experience.

I wonder how anyone could do this?

How is the middle man making anything? (he may be "the end refiner" buy I do not know)

 

[nickvc]

Not knowing your customers middleman I can only guess. Perhaps he gets some nice pieces out of the scrap and some decent diamonds or other stones that offsets the cost. If the buyer is moving serious volumes he might well be getting 98.5% + return if he's shipping karat bars plus the silver and PGMs and better if it's refined. I'm sure the buyer isn't doing this deal for nothing, weigh up your customers scrap and work out what you would be paying for it on the day he sells it and compare the figures and if it matches then it's a numbers game, small % but big turnover. If he makes 0.5% on a turnover of 1000 ozs of fine gold a week it's worth $4200 plus the silver say $1000 and any PGMs that are payable.
Not bad money :shock: