Liquidating Jewerly -- Report Of An Actual Experience

[GB_Amateur]

Although these pieces weren't found with a detector, I think what I relate here is relevant to this site.

Background:  This past summer my wife was aiding a friend who was downsizing as the result of a divorce.  She had several jewelry rings that had been accumulated over the years but didn't remember their history.  Likely some were family hand-me-downs and others were gifts or even purchases she had made herself.  Her feeling was that they were of little value but my wife asked me about them and I said I would dig deeper.  Thus initiated this rather detailed study.  I probably spent upwards of 25-30 hours, maybe more, with this investigation, but it was certainly a learning experience and I enjoy those (if I choose them myself 😀).

Items:  I initially broke the ~25 rings into two categories -- those that were (by eye) clearly junk and those that might have precious metal content.  I don't have a photo of the first group of half-a-dozen or so.  Those were in fact put in a yard sale for ~25 cents each.  The second group was given the royal investigation treatment as follows:  1) search for maker and purity marks, 2) measure weight and (with Archimedes method) specific gravity [initially with stones included but later after their removal in cases I was able to do that], 3) find their air-test VDI's with the Minelab Equinox 800, and 4) perform an acid test on those that were still considered to be gold after steps 1-3.  Here are photos starting with the gold candidates:

Silver rings (all marked either 925 or 900):

Junk rings (as concluded from multiple tests, not from simple inspection):

These photos were taken shortly before shipment to the refiner so in most cases you'll see that the stones have been removed. 

Investigation & Preparation:  Initially I did the specific gravity determination with stones in place and then tried to estimate (subtracting with guesses to volume and weight of stones) the metal-only specific gravity.  In most cases I was later able to remove the stones and then repeat the S.G. measurements which were more appropriate/accurate.

I used three methods of removing the stones:  1) when held in place simply by 'prongs' (is that what jewelers call them?) a needle nose pliers was good enough to bend the prongs until the stones fell out.  2) In many instances the back side of the ring had a small hole accessing the stone so I used a somewhat sharp punch (only as sharp as required) to knock them out.  3) In a couple silver ring cases the stones were glued in place.  For those I used Lacquer Thinner (a mixture of several not-so-healthy petroleum derivative chemicals including acetone, methyl-ethyl ketone, xylene, toluene, methanol,...) -- easily purchased at hardware stores -- to dissolve the adhesive.  Note that Lacquer thinner will dissolve most plastics and many wood finishes so care should be taken.  Fortunately for me this worked quite nicely in this instance and the stones just fell out.

Shortly I will show a spreadsheet with all the data.  For the purposes of the shipping manifest, though, I defaulted to the stamped purities even though I was in some cases dubious that they were 100% accurate based upon the specific gravity measurements.  I'm pretty sure the refiner has better methods than I to determine purity and will conclude pricing based upon their findings.  No deception was intended.  (I did not include S.G., acid test, or VDI data in the manifest, BTW.  I highly doubt they would use my values or trust them if it's even something they would use in their determination methods, and if so they surely would make their own measurements independently.)  Here are the shipment contents:

Basically each gold ring was it its own bag.  Silver rings were in two bags sorted by purity (92.5% vs. 90%).  Each bag included an index card with metal type (gold or silver), marked purity, and weight.  A separate summary itemized listing is shown at bottom.  (Thanks go to Jeff McClendon for advising me on steps to take in preparing the shipment.)  I sent them via USPS Priority Mail, insured, to Midwest Refineries , also suggested by Jeff.  (Sorry but as I write this the link icon isn't working.  You can easily find their website by a Google Search.)  The total shipment cost (postage + insurance) was $25.  I think I insured for $600 -- can't remember.  Surprisingly and gratefully, I shipped on a Friday and had a check in hand the following Thursday!  Here is a screenshot of a spreadsheet with measurement/identification details:

Hopefully you can read it.  There are three specific gravity columns -- initial measurements with stones still present, my estimate correcting for stones, and the final measurement after stones were removed.  As you can see, based upon the gold and silver spot prices on the day of shipment (upper right) and assuming marked purities (one exception being the tiny 18k ring) and no refining/recovery/processing costs I concluded the (unrealistic) total precious metal content value of $901.94.  Also shown is the returned check amount of $747.00.  I was pleased and my wife's friend (recall she thought all were junk) was overjoyed.  Take note of the Equinox VDI values.  All silver and junk rings (recall these latter were not shipped) have high VDI's (in the case of silver, being up in the neighborhood of USA silver dimes, quarters, even halves) while the gold rings are at highest around USA nickels and going down to near iron (1 being the lowest non-ferrous reading on the Equinox).  The rings gave different readings depending upon orientation and I just listed the highest value I got from the three orientation measurements.

Another thing you may noticed in the 'comments' column are the details of the acid testing.  IMO this isn't a clear indicator as hopefully you can see.  In some cases there was no dissolution (meaning the purity was as high or higher than indicated on the acid bottle), in some cases the metal streak didn't appear to dissolve until I gently absorbed the liquid with a paper towel, in some cases the metal dissolved in ~10 seconds, in some cases 1 minute, in some cases it neither dissolved nor would it wipe/off or absorb.

In particular, although I've found specific gravity vs. purity tables on the internet, I suspect there are more devils in the details than these tables imply, particularly for white gold.  The actual alloy contents are likely the reason.

Here is a photo of the removed stones:

The lower tray are the ones that either gave good readings on a gem tester or otherwise appeared to be of actual quality.  The upper are, from my conclusion, glass or low grade minerals.  BTW, for one of the rings I punched out ~50 tiny stones!  That large orange item might be authentic amber, IDK.  It exhibits layering which I wouldn't expect from a fake, but what do I know?  The two pearls passed the 'tooth test' (not sure if that is reliable) and the green stones may be jade.  They came from the 18k yellow gold ring.

Summary:  This is my first (maybe last?) attempt at selling jewelry.  I certainly went to more effort than is required, but again, I wanted to take advantage of this learning experience.  As to whether the relative return (~83%) is representative of such sales, many of you are a better judge than I, but I felt it was quite reasonable.

[glacialgold]

Wow -- very detailed work!

I'll keep this information in mind should I ever accumulate enough gold/silver jewelry to considering selling for melt value. Thus far I'm only at about 4g gold and 9g silver. So, a long ways to go.

[RickUK]

A terrific indepth read,thanks for posting.

[jasong]

Interesting read, thanks. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

Man, That's quite a bit of work but as you said...you wanted to learn.

I know of a couple customers who send their jewelry in as well. I don't think they go to the efforts and detail (in fact I'm quite certain) as you did.  

I still have not decided if I]m best to sell them individually to get top dollar or not waist as much time and work with a smelter in small volume amounts.

Thanks for sharing.

[geof_junk]

I sold what I could independently, kept the one I liked, lost the ones that the wife liked☺️ and melted the junk gold ones with the dollied specimen gold and sold to it to the refineries.

[kac]

Very cool. Gems are probably worth much more but getting them gia certified is around $100 per ring so a little investigation first can save quite a bit.

Don't rely on the acid tests, they are an ok ballpark but I am finding the test kit I have seems off. In particular the 14k solution seems too strong so many of the stuff I find tests at 8k even latest bracelet chain i found that was clearly marked 14k.

[Cascade Steven]

Thanks for sharing your detailed work and experience.  Very educational for us as readers too.

[Valens Legacy]

Thanks for sharing the information to us, and remember that some of the "Junk" items could be hard to find costume jewelry. Some of the old items can be as much as the real stuff or higher.

[GB_Amateur]

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

...Remember that some of the "Junk" items could be hard to find costume jewelry. Some of the old items can be as much as the real stuff or higher.

Good point, but how do you find out?

The rightmost ring in my 'junk' photo was a particular surprise because of how attractive it is.  My eye said it would contain precious metal (more than just the gold plating).  I haven't tossed it (or sold at a yard sale) so it still could work out that I've misevaluated it.