Learn & Earn - PM scrapping at Yard Sales, Flea Markets, etc

[cyberdan]

I just don't want another smuck or another company getting my address, email, and/or phone, as far too many groups/organizations have our info already; Giving out email may not be too bad, but my physical address (or PO BOX) or phone number is a big no no in my book

I go out of my way not to give out my address or phone number. When I register my websites I have to give something. I put a zip code for somewhere in L.A. and for my address I put "not listed for security reasons" computers are dumb, they take that as an address. I also have a P.O. box for my business it is several miles from my home and in a different city. I have two email addresses one that is on all my websites and chat group sites and another that is unlisted.

Wait am I giving out all my secrets?

[cesariojpn]

Women usually ask me why I am looking for jewelry and I tell them I am looking for my little niece (which is partially true).

Another excuse you can use is that your wife is into beading, and she likes "raw" materials like this.

[Verbane]

Another great haul today at a small antique mall, walking distance from the office during lunch. Inventory changes daily in this shop, so I make a walkthrough at least once a week during the lunch hour.

76g Sterling jewelry for $18.00+tax. ~$72.00 profit.

[frugalcanuck]

Got a bunch of gold jewlery for free. My mom was going to sell it at a yard sale and said I could have it. I figure we are even since they often sell my things that I havent moved out of my old bed room. Anyways... One piece doesnt have any regular gold markings and only has GF on it. Does this mean anything? If it means anything it doesnt feel like gold to me, but Im still learning.

[Heartkill]

My wife bought 3 sterling marked weighted candlesticks at an antique shop last week for $3 each. Put 'em up on eBay and they ended for $45 and some change. I've taught her well

[cyberdan]

One piece doesnt have any regular gold markings and only has GF on it. Does this mean anything?

Yes, that is Gold Filled. Can you see a fraction near the GF? (1/20 or 1/10) That helps give the value. If that was real gold and the value was $300 and the fraction was 1/10 then the value is $30 (one tenth the value of real gold but it takes a lot of work to get that gold out)

[galenrog]

I will admit I do not do flea markets or garage sales. I mine my own gold and roll hunt for silver. I do have some experience with silver tableware. My wife brought back from the old country a few years ago several settings of what appeared to be silver, but had only makers marks. No numbers, no abbreviations, just marks. after looking though the guidebooks I have I could not find the hallmarks. Time for some serious research.

I managed to find a site managed in Sweden by a Norwegian that had obscure hallmarks from pre wwII eastern Europe for all kinds of metalworks. Ignoring the translation program due to problems inherent in most such programs I finally found the correct marks and derermined that about 95% or what she brought back were early silverplate from an obscure maker that disappeared over 100 years ago. Not much silver value, but the collector market in Europe sure wanted them. Many of the remaining pieces were .800 and .900 silver. My wife will likely never sell them. These pieces were payment to a relative for smuggling both Jews and allied pilots to Sweden during the war.

[OneBiteAtATime]

This is such a great thread I wanted to bump it.

But I do have a question along this vein.....

Had anyone gone after the gold-rimmed glasses or china at yardsales, flea markets, etc? And what have you yielded from the adventure?

My question was sparked by my defacing a perfectly good sports collectible for the 24K signature on it to see how much weight was there..... about 2 grains... probably not worth the destruction, but still kinda fun.

Anyone?

[PennyBoy]

Can you guys chime in on some things that contain PMs? I'm talking about the stuff people tend to overlook cause they aren't aware it has PMs. I'll start.

computer towers

[Copper Catcher]

MH - I've got a few questions

1. As I understand after making several mistakes with things marked German Silver .800, they have no real silver content at all, correct?

2. Is there any real value in older silver plated trays? Not the ones made in china....or is the plating so micro coated it would take a ton of them to make an ounce?

3. As a general rule if you buy scrap and want to sell it for a profit to a refiner like yourself what is the mininum precentage back or spot your buying price should be?

[PennyBoy]

Does anyone else here think this should be a sticky?

[Market Harmony]

Just a few quick responses...

gold-rimmed glasses supposedly have a higher gold content that gold filled or gold plated items. However, you need a lot of them to amount to much of anything. We do not include them in the gold melts. They get rejected here.

Some odd items containing some level of precious metals: dental crowns, cell phones, electrical contacts within military aircraft and from the mining industry, x-ray films, photographic solutions, crucibles.

Some german silver is actually .800 fine. But, the other bad stuff that is out there makes it risky if you don't have good equipment to test it.

Anything silver plated is not yet economically feasible to extract the precious metals

If you buy sterling at a max of 70% of spot, then you should do OK with me.

[PennyBoy]

Thanks for the help, Mike!

[glockngold]

First post to this thread, & I'll start with a question about acid testing for silver.
When you drop the acid on the piece to be tested, how long must you wait for a result?

I have gotten pretty good testing gold wedding bands that I buy, but silver seems more tricky.
I have a 64 Kennedy half that I've been using to compare results.
At first the drop stays red. but after about 45 seconds, the acid bubbles & turns blue. (but not a bright blue that a nickle clad coin will turn to.)

Some old (1830's dated) silver spoons, the acid stayed red till blotted off.
These weren't marked sterling, but 1 of them was marked "coin".

Any advice?
Thanks

[ScottyTX]

Here's my quick story. Walked into a re-sale shop a few months back with my wife and she was looking for something for the kiddos (don't remember what), and I start walking around the whole shop picking up everything that looked silver One of the lady's walk by and said are you looking for silver?? We don't have any here..... As we were walking out I spotted two 9" Weighted candle sticks that had just came in and flipped them over real quick. Oooooo they both were marked with Sterling .925. I asked how much for these?? and walked out with 4.25 pure ounces of silver for 14 bucks

[mtldealer]

I grew up around the scrap yard, my family has been in it for 75+ years. Always test with magnet first. If it is magnetic right off the bat it is probably steel. If it isn't magnetic the. What color is it? Yellow or red shades would indicate collared metals ie copper and brass. Take a sharp object and try to scrape the metal. Stainless is hard and will not gouge. Aluminum, copper and brass will. Weight wise, aluminum weighs 1/3 the weight of stainless. Copper/brass is heavier than aluminum. Note. Some Hugh temp alloys are magnetic but they will be extremely light, bouncy or extremely rigid to the point of not being able to bend/break. Sokrry about my rant. Hope it helps.

[hobo finds]

Church had a giant sale Thursday thru Saturday by me. They pull in over 100K on these sales each year. They sell everytging up to motor homes and boats. The last 2 hours of the sale you buy a paper bag like you would get at a grocery store for $2.00 and fill it up. My son and I ended up with 6 bags total all full of insulated wire and brass.


75 # #2 ins wire
2 # 1 ins wire
30# elect motoes / transformers
3 lb #2 copper
3 lb brass
2 lb Die cast
1 lb Alum
5 lb steel

Should make $75.00 at the scrap yard for this $12.00 investment even at todays low prices! And my 10 year old son had a blast!

[Market Harmony]

It has been quite some time since hearing a story... anyone buying precious metals lately?

[everything]

I dug an indian tea table out of a dumpster, some neighbor apparently walked away from a home, they filled a huge dumpster numerous times, everything went from fridge to lawnmowers, never seen anything quite like it, they ended up completely gutting the place in the end, so I would visit. It had brass and pewter inlays, just gorgeous although worn. I put it on craigslist and just waited. Someone finally gave me $75 for it. I bought an old wind up record player for $20 at a garage sale, sold that for $60. This summer I also sold an edger my ex dumped, got $125 for that. I did find a jewelry box in a dumpster about a year ago, I don't know the value of the items I found, mostly just little silver earings and nose rings, some pieces that might be gold, not sure. I often pick up aluminum door frames, window frames, maybe the door if it will come apart. I also visit our local ISP network dumpster they throw out copper wire, data cable, and cast aluminum.

[knibloe]

I got a pair of sterling bracelets at a yard sale the other day for $2. They weighed in at an even ounce.

[Thogey]

I bought a ring marked Sterling at a flea market last week for a dollar.

Brought it home. It stuck to a magnet like white on rice.

[cyberdan]

Can you guys chime in on some things that contain PMs? I'm talking about the stuff people tend to overlook cause they aren't aware it has PMs. I'll start. computer towers

That and cell phones. I recycle about 800-900 a month. I buy most from someone that only know about 10 words of English so not quite sure where he gets them. 95% are completely trashed, shattered screen, no battery and no backs. So not worried that they are stolen. The other 5% are good but they tend to be old school; flips, sliders and sticks. I think he dumpster dives behind t-moblie, verizon etc.

Last week I hit a milestone in cells. I have now bought 40520 cells with a gold value of about $49,750 (took 5.5 years)

[Thogey]

Impressive.

How much do you generally pay for phones?

[cyberdan]

Impressive.How much do you generally pay for phones?

here is the breakdown
* 99.5% of the time I pay 50¢ each
If I am at a yardsale and some one brings out a samsung android and any iphone I pay a little more. I once even paid $2.00 for a perfect iphone. Sams and apples I can sell on feeBay or to a buyer I have in Philly.

*I sell them for about 80¢ to $1.00 each, but based on weight. right now I get $4.00 per pound. cells weigh around 3 to 4 ounces each. (I pull all Li Ion batteries and I get $1.50 a pound, I also pull all simcards and sell on feeBay for gold recycling)

* the buyer is a middleman and sells them to the refiner who gets about $1.22 in gold from each.
(this is just a rough average guess based on estimates from another forum and is for AU only. cells have other metals too)

so everybody get a piece of the action.

[Thogey]

So about 22K Net?