I am new here and would like some advice. I’m trying to get rid of an assortment of items from my father’s jewelry model-making shop, which closed about 20 years ago. I have no knowledge of jewelry or model making, and I don’t know anyone in the business.
If these items might be of use to someone and I could earn my mother some money by selling them, that would be great. At a minimum, I would like to dispose of/recycle them responsibly. I did manage to ID a few tools using visual search and then sell them on eBay.
But I cannot ID the remaining items, and I don’t know how to describe them. The bulk of them are similar to what you see here; I’m guessing there are 2 to 4 pounds of these. There’s also wire and other bits of metal in various forms. I don’t have photos of those now, but I could post at a later date. And we are finding more stuff every day.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
It depends on the material that they are made out of. The models probably aren’t worth much, but the metal may be, as scrap, depending on what it is. Others on ganoksin may have a better idea what the market is for old models. Good luck…Rob
Thank you, Rob! Unfortunately, I don’t know what material they are made of or how to find out. If selling as scrap is the solution, any clues on where/how to sell about 2 to 5 pounds would be greatly appreciated.
It’s hard to tell from the picture if they’re tarnished silver or brass. I think your best bet is to take them to a jewelry store and see what they think they’re made of. You might have $1000-$2000 of scrap silver?
If they’re made of brass or a similar metal then like Rob says, there’s not much scrap value. I’m not sure what to suggest. Facebook Marketplace? Ebay? Someone will want them.
Thanks, Jeff! I already tried eBay: zero interest, but part of the problem may have been that I didn’t know what to call these. Any suggestions for keywords or description would be greatly appreciated. The right words are critical for the right folks to find these.
I’m not looking to make big bucks, but I’d hate to waste materials that could be useful to someone or to dispose of these incorrectly. I’ve been scouring the internet in general and these boards in particular for more info. Being able to identify the type of metals appears to be key; I’ll see what I can do. Alas, I’m not turning up any possibilities for recycling nonprecious metals.
I would post them on a facebook jewelry tool destash group. Set a price based on the metal used (if brass or bronze not too high). Lots of folks love using items like these in assemblage pieces.
Are there more tools in your father’s ‘stuff’? You could post them in the same type of group. It’s just one way to destashing everything you have and want to unload.
For what to call these times. . . vintage jeweler’s casting models.
You can use dulled down burs as burnishers. I dull the cutting edges of old round, bud, cone, setting and cylinder burs on fairly fine sandpaper or a fine sharpening stone. I sometimes rubber wheel and/or hit with stainless polishing compound. These “dead” burs can burnish seats, countersunk holes, bezel wall/seat junctions, etc. without cutting away metal. They can help with minor casting porosity in hard to reach areas.
Before you dispose of the models, mold the interesting ones. Parts of the subsequent wax injections can be cut up and used to add settings, textured parts, trims, etc. to your projects. I mold a lot of my original cast projects before setting them or delivering them because interesting parts can always be used in other creations. I have collections of plant parts (leaves, flowers, stems, buds), trims, animals (fishes, snakes, shells, coral, dragons, birds, etc.), settings, shanks, findings, undulating ribbons, chain links and on and on. I also mold fabricated or forged parts that were a pain to make if they are hefty enough to reproduce via molding. It comes down to not reinventing the wheel whenever possible.
I reached out to some friends to see what they thought. Everyone said the same thing. You need to find out what these master models are made of before you can begin to decide their value and what to do with them. While you can’t tell from this picture, it looks to me that some, maybe the majority in the picture are silver. It’s also possible that there might be some gold in there.
It also sounds that since you have 2-4 pounds of these models, that it sounds like you have hundreds of them. I still think that you need some in person professional advice from a jeweler who can tell you what they’re made of.
To get started before visiting a jeweler, you can begin to pre-sort them yourself into yellow and white piles. Yellow will be brass, bronze or maybe gold. White will be silver, white brass (and maybe white gold).
From there you need to find a local jeweler to look at them and give you a guesstimate of what they’re made of.
If the majority of them are brass/bronze, I’d consider donating them to a school that teaches jewelry.
Is there any chance you also have hundreds of rubber molds? All of these master models might correspond to a rubber mold, which in my opinion increases their value.
Feel free to post more pictures to give us more clues of what you actually have. There’s potentially a lot!
I’m sorry that you have to sort through all of this stuff of your father’s. I’m sure it’s no fun!! But it’s an important job. Good for you for taking it on!!
Thanks so much to everyonel who replied. Jeff, you’ve given me lots of excellent information and advice to work with. Yes, I have hundreds of these things, but unfortunately, I have not turned up any molds. Sorting will be my weekend project!
As noted earlier, I continue to find more and more stuff. The next challenging category will be all the metal in assorted forms. But that’s for another day.
Will keep you posted. I’ve learned lots from the community’s replies and from searching the site over the past few days. You all are the best!
Here’s a couple of calculators that can give you a rough idea of the value of sterling silver and gold scrap once you get it figured out what everything is.
This is very interesting. I lost a good friend a few years ago who had been a lifelong jeweler. His daughter didn’t know what to do with his 300+ molds, so she decided to give them to me along with all of his models.
I cast very infrequently and only my own creations, so I face a similar issue of what to do with his.
Take some to a place where they buy gold and jewelry you’ll be able to find out what type of metal they are. Most likely they are brass. If you have access to nitric acid one drop will tell you. Green foam brass, silver cream color foam.
Hi LouiseC97637
Your Father was a very talented maker it seems a great shame to sell such good work for scrap, I agree that getting the metals tested is a good Idea , I’m sure a friendly local jeweller might do you a deal ,perhaps test all your pieces and keep a few as payment …if you know somebody you trust.
Personally I would be inclined to sell them as master caster models for lost wax casting as many still have the sprues attatched ( long bit of wire on back ) ready to go straight into a rubber mould …jewellers make these moulds by putting the master between two sheets of rubber and cook (vulcanise) it in with a special mould making gizmo ,(lots of YouTube vids on this) then carefully cut the mould in half ,remove the master, close the mould and inject hot with wax in the space left by the master …creating a sacrificial wax model for the new ring ….this video shows the process beginning with a wax copy ring which has extra wax bits to help the metal flow
Some larger outfits cast many rings in one go.
As you can imagine a master model such as your father made could be used to make an almost unlimited number of wax copies and from there , New rings. A well made master is a real joy.
So….I suggest that you watch the video above to improve your knowledge then buy second hand or borrow a ring stick & measure the size of each ring (put it on stick and the Line which is in the centre of your rings width is the correct measurement then label each ring with its size ,(and metal if Precious) you can find todays precious metal …price online (I use a page on my supplier website …I expect Rio Grande has one…take some Good close ups (I use a free magnifier camera app on my android … ) then list again with confidence …I suggest one of those ebay listings with a drop down and if you wish to look professional mention that the ring /leaf etc sizes mentioned are of the actual master and do not allow for shrinkage of the mould which buyer will need to calculate.
Not every master pattern will sell as jewellery is subject to fashions
But some of your fathers work is very complex and would make beautiful Rings for people who could never make such a pattern
I would offer discounts for volume orders and combined postage
There are probably online Jewellers newsletters too (in the uk benchpeg is good) which offer classifieds . I can’t help with prices in other countries …but perhaps others can …even if your pieces are not precious metals they will still be precious to the right person …the more complex the higher the price perhaps
if all that is too much then see If you can find a specialist used jewellery tool dealer (some tool shops have a used section ), jewellery casting firm, or jewellery manufacturer & try to sell them all as a job lot
Anyway
Well done for finding Ganoksin
I wish you and your Mum All the best with Selling your Fathers Skillfully Crafted legacy
Kind Regards
Rosemary Price
The Brightsmiths Workshops
Thank you so much, Rosemary, for this very informative post. I’ll reply in full at some other point, but wanted to express my gratitude in the meantime.
Thanks to everyone for your kind support and advice. I’ve never seen such a civil, well-organized and informative professional forum. Kudos to you all!
I’ll be leaving the forum for now. But there’s still plenty of stuff from my dad’s model-making business to go through. If I encounter anything especially perplexing, I’ll be back.
