[Jewelry making - Article 00061] - [Orchid] Health hazards from Customer Jewelry?

[Margaret Utter]

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    I have been reading all of these posts and I am... disgusted,
    actually. But I have a dandy that I thought that I would toss out to
    you all. 


    Several years ago, I worked for a jewelry repair business that was
    located in a kiosk at one of our local malls. We did repairs in an
    hour, or so. We had some customers that would come in every week and
    bring us their broken chains. Many of them were 10K and most of them
    were hollow. After a while, the chains were stiff and had doubled in
    weight with the addition of solder. After a while we started to
    offer making nuggets from chains that were beyond hope. 

    Word spread and soon we were making several nuggets each day. It
    wasn't any big thing. We would melt the chain on a charcoal block
    and push it around a bit with a solder pick until it made a
    reasonable shape. With the addition of a bale, they weren't too bad.
    We also did this with wedding bands that had too many bad memories
    attached to them. Anyway... One day, this lady came up and asked if I
    would make a nugget for her. She asked if we could use dental gold.
    I told her that we could but many crowns and such didn't have that
    much gold in them and they wouldn't make very big nuggets. She said
    that wouldn't be a problem. She reached into her purse... 

    Now, I was expecting a crown or two, maybe a bridge... She pulled a
    cloth bag out of her purse. It was not a small bag either. This was
    a bag like they bundle money in at the bank. It was about the size
    of a bread bag. I am sure that my jaw dropped, (No pun intended.) as
    she dumped the contents onto the countertop. Teeth, hundreds of
    them, began to skitter and hop across the countertop. There were
    teeth of every shape and size. 

    I asked where she had gotten all of these teeth. She told me that
    she worked for a mortuary and since it was illegal to bury someone
    with any precious metals on them, the teeth had to be pulled. I was
    told that most people are offended if you offer them the teeth of
    their beloved, so she had kept them. 

    I kept my composure, as best that I could. I told her that she would
    have to remove all of the teeth, and any residue, herself. She
    wasn't too happy. I didn't care. She collected her scavenged prizes,
    mumbled something about a hammer, and went away. I didn't see her
    again. I count myself luckier for it. 

    Blessings, and wishes for a happy (and healthy) holiday season, 

Margaret 

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