Most gold jewelry is not pure gold.
Scrap gold has become a popular topic of conversation during the recession. Gold's increasing value, when compared to falling currency values, makes a very attractive investment option, thereby increasing demand significantly. As demand rises sharply, the general public has taken an interest in finding and selling scrap gold to investors.
Most Gold Is Not Pure
An important though often overlooked fact is that what most people consider to be gold in their items of jewelry and other luxury goods are in fact gold alloys with a less valuable though more durable material. Pure gold does not actually make for good jewelry due to the fact that it is too malleable and therefore breaks quite easily. These alloys gave rise to gold karat specifications, with 24 karat gold being 100 percent pure. The common standard is18 karat yellow gold, an alloy of three quarters gold and a mixture of copper, silver, zinc or cobalt. Eighteen karat yellow gold is very easily worked and retains the classic appearance of gold. Nickel, zinc and palladium additives are responsible for what is known as white gold. White gold with new nickel alloy can sometimes cause skin irritation in those who would be susceptible to nickel irritation alone, making palladium the additive of choice in white gold for jewelry applications.
Old Computers Can Provide a Source of Salvaged Gold
One of the chief sources of derelict gold in North America is obsolete electronics, with an emphasis on computer components. The circuit board connectors that join certain parts of the computer together, such as the connecting pins on RAM PCI cards and the pins that connect the processor to the motherboard, are all gold coated for superior electrical conductivity. In theory, all you need to do to salvage this metal is scrape it off and then dissolve the copper matrix on which it is plated. Unfortunately in practice this is rather inaccessible to the average person, due to the fact that dangerous corrosive materials are required as well as safe lab conditions. That does not mean that the average person cannot cash in, as salvaging companies will pay a modest fee for bulk deliveries of outdated components that they can take the time to process on a large enough scale to make the overall procedure profitable.
An Historical Gold Secret From the Age of Gold Coins
There has always been an historical fascination with obtaining scrap gold, which sometimes took a less than scrupulous approach. Back iwhen coins were minted using actual precious materials, some people would engage in the practice of coin clipping, in which they would use shears to snip off a small portion of the edge of the coin and hoard the clippings for themselves with which to either mint counterfeits or simply sell as bouillon. The practice of coin clipping was quickly made illegal, leading to more attempts at circumventing the law such as coin sweating. In this process a would be theif would place a gold coin in an abrasive bag and forcibly erode it, accumulating gold dust. It was this coin sweating practice which led to the notched edge that now appears on most modern coins, despite the fact that there is now no need for the practice.
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