Not lead, but Gold alloy

[John in WI]

Hoping the folks on CB can help me with a kind of strange problem. Years ago my father gave me a small jar of little pieces of gold foil. He used to make plating solutions and things with it.

The alloy says Au 96%/ Si 4%, and it's from a company called Indium Corporation. I have about an ounce of it, which should be worth somewhere around $1000.

I emailed the company to see if they were interested in purchasing it back, but didn't get a response. I went to several local gold buyers, pawn shops, and jewelers, and no interest (I think they want to see the gold marked--these are small, unmarked chips).

I contacted several online refiners and no responses (Maybe they don't want to deal with a small fry like me?).

I'm honestly surprised that there is literally 0 interest in this material!

Do any of you alloy buyers know of someone who might want to take that off my hands? I need to fund my last semester of grad school, and so I need the cash a lot worse than the jar of alloy!

Thanks for any ideas--I had no idea you would have a hard time unloading gold alloy! Apparently if you can't recognize it by eye (ie, it looks like a Maple Leaf, or a Krugerrand, or is marked 22K or whatever), nobody wants to deal with an assay.

[felix]

That really shows you what gold is really worth! Those who care would have the chemicals to test what you have. Try the on-line black and white photography chemical warehouses. They would surely give you the commercial value of the gold. They will render what you have into a liquid that would be used to convert silver to gold, as in gold toning a silver print. ... felix

[John in WI]

Yeah--talk about testing. I am a chemist, and had a buddy of mine do a high level elemental analysis of it with this great new Hitachi electron microscope. But who is going to trust the seller in a case like this? I mean, do you trust the guy who's selling you the used car, or do you open the hood and look at the dipstick? I guess I can't say I totally blame the local places, but the online places that actually do the refining--that surprised me.

I never thought about photography chemical places. I have some contact info for a few of them as my other hobby aside from CBs is pinhole photography. Thanks for the idea!

[dreadpiraterobberts]

John, Just curious what you would consider a fair price for your gold? Verified .9999 Gold 'rounds' currently have a market value around $1240/oz., but they also generally appreciate according to the year made. 'Industrial Gold' generally only has a value that follows the current market price.

[SODAPOPMG]

you need to find someone that will smelt in into an ingot/chunk then it will be in a saleable form
maybe a old time jeweller or just use an oxy acel torch to make your own

[SciFiJim]

I saw an instructable that might help you with ideas for recovering the gold into a single lump.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gold-recovery/

[SeabeeMan]

I used to sell jewelry and our in-store jeweler would save everything that ever came into contact with gold, including the polishing rouge that got thrown off the wheels and the dust on the floor. He'd bag it all and ship it to a refinery and then he'd get a check for a pretty nice amount after they analysed and refined it down. Maybe a local guy like that would give you his contact or let you put your stuff in with his.

[WILCO]

I used to sell jewelry and our in-store jeweler would save everything that ever came into contact with gold, including the polishing rouge that got thrown off the wheels and the dust on the floor. He'd bag it all and ship it to a refinery and then he'd get a check for a pretty nice amount after they analysed and refined it down. Maybe a local guy like that would give you his contact or let you put your stuff in with his.

Rich has the right answer. Take it to a "We buy gold!" place.

[MaryB]

Could ebay it but be prepared for the 12% in fees. I know a few precious metals sites with for sale areas but those guys are used to buying under spot(current) price.

We Buy Gold places will rip you off badly, many paying only 60% of spot price.

[bangerjim]

That Si in there could be causing you troubles. Gold is generally alloyed with Cu to make a harder wearing alloy for jewelry and coins.

Gold and bullion is preferred and traded readily in assayed/stamped ingots, rounds, or minted coins. That is why I have gold coins! I love the $20 St Gaudens. Any other form is pretty hard to peddle.

I have a couple books of pure gold leaf I use for restoring antiques and that stuff is definitely tradable, but it is hallmarked on each cover sheet so you know what it is.

Good luck! Mabe just keep it in the jar as a conversation piece and a memory of your Dad?

Banger

[Defcon-One]

"Si" is Silicon. That is gonna be a problem in my opinion. I'd buy the Gold, but how do you get the Si out?

Refiners, maybe. I'd expect to get about 50-60% of spot for scrap gold at .999 pure. If you have 96% pure, maybe less.

Sorry, I have no idea that is better than the ones above. I'd probably just melt it into a chunk that looks like a nugget and sell it that way.

I suspect that the price you want will effect any buyers interest, since they'll need to cover the risk and cost of dealing with the Si.

[bangerjim]

You can separate gold from silicon by using the standard old method of cyanide refining! And plating it off.

Now....separating gold jewerlry from those silicone breast implants in a fashion model is another story!!!!!!

Cyanide processing is NOT something you will want to do for < 1OZ of the golden stuff!

Cyanide is used commercially for gold processing/reprocessing and is a very dangerous undertaking. I remember a gun/pawn shop my dad & I used to go to did gold plating of gun parts in the back room.......until 2 people died!!

Same thing they did with gold washing of watch parts with a gold/mercury amalgam.....then they baked off the mercury.....leaving the gold.....and slowly killed the watch makers with mercury toxic poisoning.


banger

[Whiterabbit]

It's like reading The Pearl by Stienbeck.

[AggieEE]

John in WI; PM me and I'll send you the name of the company that we use here. They will send you an analasis of what you send in, the weight, spot price, the price they paid you. The % they pay varies as to the amount, the more you have the higher percent you get. In the solid state electronics industry they infuse gold into the backs of the silicon wafers so when the slice out the chips to mount in packages the gold/silicon is used as a solder to bond the chip to the package header.