Featured NEWS: Record prices are triggering a gold rush of customers looking to melt old jewelry for cash

Over the years have now & then traded unwanted gold items to my jeweller, who is licensed to buy gold, in exchange for repair work or for creating/reworking another piece.

 

Dislike!!!!

 

ya , but watching a guy standing in line holding a huge silver candelabra in one hand and a silverwre box in the other..... not sump tin one sees every day !!!

 

How about some pictures before you chuck them ....

 

I would probably think . . . where did he steal those from?

 

Davey, that bracelet is beautiful!

 

My DH sold his mom's engagement ring. The centre diamond we were told was a good quality one and should be worth something, but it wasn't worth much. I thought it should've been kept by his sister and passed on to her daughters, but apparently, not to be. I was saddened by how little was paid. But I have a diamond ring that belonged to his grandmother and I found it accidentally while shaking a jewelery box upside down before putting it out for a garage sale. DH said to keep it if I liked it and so I did. I wear it quite often. I will put some gold bits in for scrap because the gems in them are not worth much, but the gold sure is!!

 

The way my mom got angry when I told her her diamonds were worth very little on the second hand market...! She was so worried about her "jewels" that she had me keep them at my house. Years later I finally looked and it was all department store stuff with tiny diamonds. I made her take them back and told her to please, please wear them and enjoy them. They're insured anyway. Later she went and bought sizable ones and I just shook my head. I could not get her to understand the monopoly that made them worthless past a retailer's case.

 

My conundrum is that when gold and silver were cheap, I couldn't afford it, and now that it's up, I still can't afford it...
I have some silver, most of which my grandparents bought in the early to mid 20th century. I have no real sentimental attachment to it, but there are a few pieces I really like and will keep. Some other pieces I'd like to sell, but I don't want them to go for scrap. However, I don't know enough about it to determine what has more collector value than melt weight value, so to keep from destroying something good, I'll just hang on to it, I guess.

 

If you can ID the maker and pattern check eboo's completed listings to see if it sells well. If you can't ID them post for help in the silver forum with good, sharp photos of each piece and their marks

 

The silver forum is a great resource, and I've been able to ID several pieces with the generous help freely given there. That being said, I don't ask values there, but I suppose I could ask about collectability.

 

Without directly commenting on value I’m sure folks will be more than happy to tell you if something is worth listing for sale over scrap value.

 

Had mentioned that I was sending gold to a Midwest refinery with good success. My most recent shipment (about $5K worth) got lost in the mail. It was sent registered and insured and this should just not happen. Registered Mail is supposed to be escorted, signed for, and locked up every step of the way. Tracking shows it going to a Chicago suburb, on to Chicago proper, and for some reason off to Columbus Ohio, before getting lost in Detroit. Suddenly, after nearly 3 weeks, it shows up and was delivered! I am guessing that by filing an insurance claim, it got someone to actually look for it.

I followed the protocols for searches and the USPS was prompt in contacting me and telling me what steps to take. Finally, someone phoned me from the destination PO to let me know that the package was probably lost for good and to file an insurance claim. I had given up on the idea that it might be found. I was not a happy camper.

I had actually under-insured the package by about $1K and didn't even know if I had enough documentation for a successful insurance claim. I had photographed all the items with their weights on a scale. I had an inventory with approximate scrap value at time of mailing. What I didn't have is a photo of the completed package before mailing. I did not know that this is something that they would want but it is asked for in the guidelines for an insurance claim.

Mailing cost for this package was nearly $40.00 but it is the only USPS service with secure delivery of high value items. Registered Mail does take a bit longer to get to destination but 4-5 days should have gotten it there. My previous shipments arrived without incidence. Would I do this again? Probably, though I may explore other shipping options. I wonder if FedEX might be a good option. Anyone have any experience shipping precious metals?

 

LOL!.... Yes it did. The only bright spot in this saga. Check is supposed to go out Monday. Price has dropped a little since the all time high this past week but it will still be higher than when I mailed this.

 

I’ve never shipped out high $ amounts of metal. Just pieces of jewelry mostly under 1k. When I ship very small valuable items though I tend to put them in much larger boxes than is necessary. Particularly when dealing with metals. I think there are smart people in the system that know to check packages for weight/density vs. package size. Also if they see insurance/registered/signature required etc. on small dense packages they might assume those are good ones for stealing or opening. They can tear a package to check contents and keep it rolling through the system. For this reason I always tape the ever loving hell out of any package that contains small valuable items. There is zero way anything in that category of mine is accidentally getting opened in the system. It would require premeditated tampering or an errant whaling harpoon to create a hole or gap in the cardboard flaps.

The only option I can see for you outside of selling in person or switching carriers is breaking your shipments up a bit more. That eats into profit, but maybe the peace of mind is worth it. Overall I find the usps is very reliable. I’ve sent probably close to 5k packages in five years. Only one or two ever was permanently lost that I can recall. One was going to Canada, not sure if that matters. I do find that if one is lost in the system that once I file a missing mail claim (rather than insurance claim) that’s when they usually show up finally. I don’t use insurance much. I do ship FedEx and UPS but only when it costs a good bit less. I don’t diverge from usps for any other reason usually. I do avoid shipping extremely fragile items via UPS. Nearly every issue I’ve ever had with damage during shipping was under the watch of UPS.


Unfortunately at this point I think there are people in the delivery systems that know what addresses belong to the big players in the metal game. Those packages are probably going to get targeted no matter what. You got lucky it sounds like. It would have been a huge blow to lose that package. Overall I feel ok playing the numbers game with the system but I try to take precautions.

 

Oh yeah, the USPS always asks for a picture of the ready to go package with label visible. Besides proving your intention to send, I think it helps them look for the package.

I would never, never, never, never use UPS or FedEx to send things that you cared about. Both have lost or stolen things from me when a seller has used them (and of course I got the cheap sold price and not the actual worth). I had a relative who worked at DHL that said the pay was so low at these places and the hours so horribly long, that the only people who stayed were ex-cons who couldn't get jobs elsewhere. Now, I'm definitely not saying that's everyone or every location (after all there are unions with the Teamsters), but my relative's experience was direct at DHL. She said they had people get fired for intentionally damaging packages for fun, constant theft, stalking, selling their stolen goods out of their actual trucks, sexual harassment of customers, etc. Then they'd just get hired a few weeks later when they didn't have enough divers and too much volume again.

Shipping through the post office elevates theft to a federal crime. Workers there have a union and work through seniority and up to prime positions, with pensions and all that. Most are not trying to jeopardize that. I've never had a package lost. I've had one damaged and they issued an insurance claim to me in about a week. That's the system working as intended imo.

I'm so glad they were able to find it for you and the rates were in your favor when it landed!

 

If I thought I lost a pkg with that much gold in it, I would need valium. I am glad it worked out.
Nice jewelry Davey.