I hope this question makes sense. I’ve been trading minor pieces
of jewelry work for people’s old gold rings etc and melting them
down. I’m wondering if pawn shops build up boxes of old gold to
send to refiners or whatever and what refiners pay them for their
gold. The idea here theoretically is I’d like to be able to buy
old gold below spot but above what refiners give their customers
so that I could walk into a pawn shop with affordable gold . Its
out of my realm to be able to buy already rolled sheets and wire
and am about to run out of the gold I’ve rolled and looking for a
cheap alternative. Talking about 14k gold…any suggestions
Dave
dave, i can recommend a precious metal liquidator here in
Houston that pays 96% of assey for 10 or more oz. there is
usually a charge to assey of i think $15.00. it is a double
blind assey and these people are one of the largest metals
liqudators west of the mississippi. they will either pay or
trade out pure at just a couple % below spot. great folks.
Houston Precious Metals 607 Chenevert Houston, tx. 77003
713-228-3931 ask for Pat. call and make sure my numbers are
correct.
Frank: I think my question was unclear. I will keep this number
though for future reference. What I was trying to say was
(trying again…) would I be laughed out of town if I went into
a pawn shop and asked them if they had any old gold they’d let
me buy and if so what percentage of spot should I offer them? I
can buy old gold rings here at the coin/metals place but I think
they sell it to me at spot.Does this make sense? DAve
Maxon’s uses Garfield for refining our scrap. Garfield has a
web site; I don’t remember the URL, but a search engine should
get you there.
Joel Kahn <@Joel_Kahn>
Comptroller for Maxon’s Jewelers
Diamond Merchants & Estate Jewelers
2622 S Glenstone, Springfield Missouri 65804 USA
Voice: 417-887-1800 or 417-887-1809
Fax: 417-887-3422
dave, it is not too likely pawn shops will sell to you below
spot as they are the main customers of companies like Houston
Precious Metals. there are however local jewelry stores who hold
scrap for sale usually the ones without a in-house jeweler or
ties to a pawn shop are your best bet. ther are also bench
sweeps and buffs that can be bought at a discount if you know
other jewelers or polishers. buy in small lots at a discount and
sell in large lots at top price. buy low sell high.you also can
check with the local corporate chain stores they sometimes have
small quantities of scrap and have no program for selling it.
x-ray film is also a source of silver if you have conections in
that direction. what this all leads to is a different business
than jewelry, but closely related. it takes some practice to be
able to judge gold content in buffs and sweeps, and then you also
have to consider the price fluctuation of gold between the time
you buy and sell, but there is a profit to be made. it takes
time and an established cliet list who trust you and will save
scrap and buffs to sell to you. as to saving money on your
milled stock you might look for a local liquidator like HPM and
set up a relationship where they will sell you milled stock and
findings that people have scraped. one of my sources for cheap
materials (compared to refinery prices). hope this helps with
your question and your needs. i also might suggest you find a
small local private refinner who does refining on a small scale.
you can usually save money on refining cost of small lots of gold
and silver. hope this helps with your question.
Dave, Been there done that… It works…Almost any Pawn shop,
jewelry store od even antique dealer will sell off at melt or
less… Alot cheaper than New Gold…But always check what you
buy because of the potential of under carating. As the
designer-fabricator it is your job to certify the carat of gold
you are selling as finished Jewelry to your clients. Recomend the
investment in a good gold test kit.
I buy alot off the street, and for purposes of reusing gold I
recommend using gold rings as these are the cleanest. When I say
clean I mean they are going to have the least soder joints etc…
Highly recommend you stay away from chain, chain does work but
will have a LOT of soder and will if used in quantity most
definately affect the finished product. In my Humble opinion.
Thanks and best wishes
would I be laughed out of town if I went into a pawn shop and
asked them if they had any old gold they’d let me buy
hi, Dave-
I tried this. i think they use assayers like Frank was talking
about, especially the chain pawn shops. They have plenty of junk
they’ll sell you to melt, but not at great prices. I really
think some of their diamonds may be better deals- especially
little accent stones you could glean from those too-common
cluster rings. Maybe try a “I buy gold” ad in the paper-? You
could probably beat the pawn shops price they give on outright
buys- Anne
hey dave, generally what pawns do is offer 1/2 of spot for old
gold. what refiners do is pay up to 97% of spot ‘after’ they
refine it. i would assume you’d never want to pay much more than
that ever. if you’re buying gold from individuals from the street
the going price is half of spot and no more. pawn shops are
pretty smart. they usually will resell old gold as jewelry or
turn it in to that refiner who pays the 93 to 97%. i’d like to
warn you about putting an add in the classifieds. it can be like
a full time job purchasing gold from the public or bench
jewelers. but again done right, it could pay like a full time
job. geo fox
I checked this out once, and the answer is, yes. Pawn shops do
often have a cigar box with scrap gold that they periodically
send to a refiner. More often than not, it’s broken chains, and
such. When I picked out the material I wanted, and asked the
guy for a price, he weighed it up, and asked me how much I wanted
to offer him. Tip: Take a calculator and a feeling for the spot
price, and know your karats, grams, dwts and ounces. There
should also be a discount because it’s scrap, and he doesn’t have
to pay a refiner. I think if I had haggled a bit more he would
have accepted my offer, but he wanted a bit more than I thought
it was worth.