The Woman Who Stuck Gold

I recently went to a yard sale in the older and less affluent section of my town. The house was in bad repair and there was little anyone would want in the yard sale. The home owner was a single mother and had to move out since she couldn't afford the cost of the utilities, repair and land tax. She was literally pleading with the people who stopped to buy something, anything.

If you have read my 4 articles on finding almost free gold and silver, you would know that I always ask people having yard sales if they have any broken gold jewelry or old silver items they want to sell. These include single gold earrings, broken chains, or old rings they do not wear any longer.

I asked this woman if she had any of the items I mentioned above. She told me she just had some trashy old stuff from her Mother that she was about to throw out. She went into her house and brought a dirty sandwich bag filled with amazing items. These items she said were about to be thrown in the garbage because of their age and general unattractiveness. They were worn and old.

The bag included two 14K gold old and broken charm bracelets with numerous charms. I know that gold recycling stores are paying about $10 per gram for 14K. I also know that a quarter or a nickel each weigh a little over 5 grams and each cent weighs over 2 grams. So I took the two bracelets in one hand and used pocket change to estimate the weight of the gold charm bracelets. They weighed the same as 5 quarters and 4 nickels or 45 grams of 14K gold. At $10 a gram from my recycler for 14K scrap gold when gold spot price is $660 per troy ounce, I could get $450 for the two bracelets. The were also four rings and a knot of tangled, broken chains which weighed the same as 5 quatrers, 4 nickels and 4 cents. I had to sutract the weight of the 4 cents to make up the weight for the semiprecious stones (which by the way are usually worth nothing to a reseller). That gave me another $450. In total, I could get over $900 for the bag of gold items. I offered her $850 so that I could make a modest profit. Her jaw just dropped. This was her expenses in full for a month. She was about to throw this away $900 worth of gold. She was overjoyed, but since it was a yard sale she said "How about $875?" I said OK since she needed the money.

I felt good because I did my good deed for the day and made gas money for the week. She was overjoyed.

I am telling you about this incident so you will know that gold and silver are easily converted into cash. Never throw away broken gold jewelry or sterling silver forks, which have fallen in the sink disposal only to get mutilated beyond repair. Instead keep these items together and bring them into a store which buys gold and silver. Most coin collector stores buy scrap precious metals at a fair rate. If you can't find and scrap buyer, even a pawn broker will generally paid a large fraction of the gold value for items. Jewelry stores will often buy gold but my experience is that they pay significantly less than most other precious metal recyclers.

Remember that 14K gold contains only about 58% gold in its alloy, while 18K contains 75% pure gold by weight. Therefore, if the spot price for gold is $660 a troy ounce expect to get between 1/3 to 2/3rds of that per troy ounce after the buyer makes a profit and adjusts for the impurity of medium karat gold. Jewelry from India and China are often 21K or 22K so you will get a much higher percentage of the spot gold price on the day you sell it. Just remember do not throw away old or broken gold. It would be like burning $100 bills to light a cigar.

Please read my earlier articles:

Find "Almost" Free Gold at Thrift Shops & Yard Sales - Beginner Guide
Find "Almost" Free Gold - Advanced Guide
How to Find "Almost" Free Silver
Best Yard Sale, Flea Market, Thrift Shop Finds I Sold on Ebay