[Jewelry making - Article 00224] - Re: [Orchid] How to value customer's scrap on trade

[Nanz Aalund]

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Silverfoot-

    When I was with Nordstrom we where always being asked to actually
    make the customers new jewelry using the old scrap jewelry gold. It
    was very hard to explain all the problems in casting and
    manufacturing that would often entail. (Pits, Porosity, uncertain
    karat grade) But as long as no one was asking for that I was willing
    to give them up to 1/2 the spot market rate. But 1/3 would be an even
    better deal for you! 

    The spot market is always based on 24k price. You can get it from
    the London Stock Exchange or some refiners list it on their websites.
    Then you will have to plug in the percentage of how much pure gold
    is in the 14k or 18k scrap. 58% for 14k or 75% for 18k. I would always
    separate the karat grades, weigh the scrap by karat grade, and divide
    the weight by the percent of pure gold in that particular karat. I
    was trained using Pennyweights (dwt) but it works equally well and
    probably more accurately with grams or grains. 

    Once I had a dollar value, I would just subtract that amount from
    the customers total bill. Sometimes sentimental value was more than
    the dollar value and the customer would ask for the item(s) back. Be
    prepared for that and don't melt anything down. Unless you want a
    tear stained apron :~{ 

    If the scrap is not stamped, you'll have to get out a touchstone and
    acids to test it. If you don't know how to do that, Rio Grande has
    testing kits and videos. 

    Be especially careful of gold filled and plated items, you don't
    want to pay gold prices for base metal. If something looks 18k yet
    feel light, file a notch in it to check how far down the gold goes.
    Hallmarks like 1/20th 14kGF will indicate a gold filled item that is
    of little value when refining. 

    Precious metal clay was never an issue for me but I have seen the
    Gold version and it feels very light in the hand. And I don't know if
    anyone using that product would know enough to stamp the stuff
    correctly (no offence meant) But be aware that it may cause confusion
    with identification. 

    Good luck! 
    I Hope this helps,

Nanz Aalund

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