With gold hitting 1075 the other day people are scrapping all of their old/unwanted jewelry. I decided to take my stuff down the street to a local and was absolutely shocked what he offered me.....it was so low I then decided to go around and "shop" my stuff. I don't have alot (104g) but I do know it's worth more than what the local guys are offering. In one day I was offered between $625- $1230 from 5 different places.
I decided to just throw the stuff back on my dresser. Those online scumbags(cash4gold...etc) I just don't trust.
So shop around if you're scrapping gold
I should add that my stuff is 14kt and I know the formula for calculating scrap. I feel the jewelers are entitled to a profit but these guys are taking like 60%. That's excessive in my opinion.
I'd hit up the CDC and see where Nick i scrapping his.
So happy I bought all that GLD stock several years ago when gold was WAYYYYYY cheaper. Effing capital gains, tho.
Quote from: cyrus buelton on November 29, 2009, 04:39:25 AM
I'd hit up the CDC and see where Nick i scrapping his.
Nick would be scrapping his with a refiner I would assume. They usually don't deal with the consumer due to the small quanities.
But I will hit Nick up and see what he's paying. The people I use to deal with when I was in the business have either retired or closed up shop.
Thanks Judd
Maybe get in on a scrap he sends in and gives you your portion of the cut.
My mom just sold a little over 2 ounces for $1950 for a company called Precious Gems and Metals based out of Indiana. They recently had an ad out in the newspaper and set up small shops around CA for the weekend at various hotels. They had tried to lowball us for $1675 but before we went there, we had gone to a little independent shop that had offered us $1900 and we got him to beat them. He was really griping about it though. I think he regretted it. For anyone that is curious, it was 4 gold coins, denomination $20, $10, $5, $2 and a small 18 carat white gold ring along with some fillings. We had already checked the coins and they weren't worth anything. This all happened about a week ago. Definitely shop around.
If I were y'all, I'd be keeping my gold.
Quote from: zarn02 on November 29, 2009, 06:12:13 AM
If I were y'all, I'd be keeping my gold.
+1
and burying it
Quote from: zarn02 on November 29, 2009, 06:12:13 AM
If I were y'all, I'd be keeping my gold.
Why? The idea is to sell when the price is high, not to buy or even to hold onto it.
My dad put me through my first year of college by selling bags of dimes at almost $50 an ounce in 1980. Remember? Back when companies were starting businesses to scavenge silver from photo developing solution? (Actually, remember "photo developing"?) He'd walk into a metal dealer to sell and all the people lined up to buy would simply mob him. He'd paid only slightly more than 10 cents each for those dimes. A lot of those people bought silver then kept it as the price dropped and dropped. At the current price of about $18.50, many of those dimes are again worth more as collector's items than for their silver content, but still nowhere near $49.50 an ounce (or, to account for inflation, nearly $128). For comparison, a silver dime in 1980 was worth about $3.60 (in 1980 dollars, no less) and about $1.35 today (in 2009 dollars, of course). That $3.60 in 1980 would've been worth about $9.29 last year in terms of buying power, so I'm sure those people are really happy they spent that on dimes.
He did the same on a smaller scale with gold at the time then again a while back, selling some poor-quality gold coins for vastly more than he'd paid for them. People bought gold from him in 1980 for around $850 an ounce, then watched the price drop to $250 over the next 19 years while over the same time that $250 bought only half of what it had. In 1999 terms, they'd spent $1,770 for their $250 worth of gold. There were a lot of people buying gold in 1980 and selling it in 1999.
I know people disagree, but "precious" metals, like diamonds, don't have much intrinsic value. Stuff is only worth what we collectively say it's worth. Gold has historically been useful as a medium of exchange, but at the moment there's practically no place where you can go in and exchange your bullion for a car, let alone food. You simply can't pay your cellular bill or buy stamps (remember "stamps"?) with it at all.
For most purposes in the modern world we need money, that mostly-imaginary exchange medium currently represented primarily by ones and zeroes in electronic systems. If you're short on that stuff and have some gold, now may be a good time to sell the gold because it's currently worth a lot. Perhaps it'll be worth more in the future, perhaps not. If you need to buy pizza now, keeping gold and putting the pizza on a credit card might not be a good idea.
Maybe after the global collapse someone will trade you a haunch of venison for Grandad's wedding ring. On the other hand, maybe that hunter would really only want more bullets and wouldn't have much use for golden trinkets. If you'd sold the ring and bought bullets, you'd have supper. Nobody is going to be able to eat their gold, so sooner or later people may become unwilling to trade their food for it.
Quote from: mstevens on November 29, 2009, 08:47:56 AM
Why? The idea is to sell when the price is high, not to buy or even to hold onto it.
<snip>
Gold may be high now, but it
is going to get higher. I can't speak to the short term, but in the long(er) haul I think folks will be better off getting out of dollars and into metals.
Fiat currency never lasts.
Quote from: zarn02 on November 29, 2009, 09:24:41 AM
Gold may be high now, but it is going to get higher. I can't speak to the short term, but in the long(er) haul I think folks will be better off getting out of dollars and into metals.
Fiat currency never lasts.
+1 especially since inflation is bound to go way up from current levels what with current deficits and such. It's probably a longer term play, though, until the economy starts picking up and inflation follows.
Quote from: zarn02 on November 29, 2009, 09:24:41 AMGold may be high now, but it is going to get higher.
Maybe. Of course, that's what all those people who paid $850/ounce back in 1950 thought. The same has been said of many stocks in companies that no longer exist, Detroit real estate, etc., etc. In my opinion there is nothing magical about gold or any other commodity that means that it must necessarily appreciate in value. The one thing that does appear always to have true of gold is that it never loses all value.
I don't actually have any "scrap" gold nor any other form that I intend to sell. On the other hand, I have nothing "invested" in gold, either. My jewelry, watches, coins, etc. that are made of gold were purchased because I like them or were inherited. The only thing I own specifically because it's made of gold is my wedding ring.
Quote from: mstevens on November 29, 2009, 08:47:56 AM
Why? The idea is to sell when the price is high, not to buy or even to hold onto it.
My dad put me through my first year of college by selling bags of dimes at almost $50 an ounce in 1980. Remember? Back when companies were starting businesses to scavenge silver from photo developing solution? (Actually, remember "photo developing"?) He'd walk into a metal dealer to sell and all the people lined up to buy would simply mob him. He'd paid only slightly more than 10 cents each for those dimes. A lot of those people bought silver then kept it as the price dropped and dropped. At the current price of about $18.50, many of those dimes are again worth more as collector's items than for their silver content, but still nowhere near $49.50 an ounce (or, to account for inflation, nearly $128). For comparison, a silver dime in 1980 was worth about $3.60 (in 1980 dollars, no less) and about $1.35 today (in 2009 dollars, of course). That $3.60 in 1980 would've been worth about $9.29 last year in terms of buying power, so I'm sure those people are really happy they spent that on dimes.
He did the same on a smaller scale with gold at the time then again a while back, selling some poor-quality gold coins for vastly more than he'd paid for them. People bought gold from him in 1980 for around $850 an ounce, then watched the price drop to $250 over the next 19 years while over the same time that $250 bought only half of what it had. In 1999 terms, they'd spent $1,770 for their $250 worth of gold. There were a lot of people buying gold in 1980 and selling it in 1999.
I know people disagree, but "precious" metals, like diamonds, don't have much intrinsic value. Stuff is only worth what we collectively say it's worth. Gold has historically been useful as a medium of exchange, but at the moment there's practically no place where you can go in and exchange your bullion for a car, let alone food. You simply can't pay your cellular bill or buy stamps (remember "stamps"?) with it at all.
For most purposes in the modern world we need money, that mostly-imaginary exchange medium currently represented primarily by ones and zeroes in electronic systems. If you're short on that stuff and have some gold, now may be a good time to sell the gold because it's currently worth a lot. Perhaps it'll be worth more in the future, perhaps not. If you need to buy pizza now, keeping gold and putting the pizza on a credit card might not be a good idea.
Maybe after the global collapse someone will trade you a haunch of venison for Grandad's wedding ring. On the other hand, maybe that hunter would really only want more bullets and wouldn't have much use for golden trinkets. If you'd sold the ring and bought bullets, you'd have supper. Nobody is going to be able to eat their gold, so sooner or later people may become unwilling to trade their food for it.
Are there Cliffs notes for your posts? :D
doomers....
Buy ammo if'n you're scared.
I'll just say that the measely 3 oz that I have is not going to "secure" my retirement. [cheeky]
I have plenty of guns and ammo to take stuff from the not so fortunate when the world ends. [cheeky] [laugh][cheeky]
I was just looking to have some extra coin for the upcoming holiday season.
Quote from: mstevens on November 29, 2009, 02:02:28 PM
<snip>
In my opinion there is nothing magical about gold or any other commodity that means that it must necessarily appreciate in value. The one thing that does appear always to have true of gold is that it never loses all value.
<snip>
Of course gold has no intrinsic value. Nothing has intrinsic value (monetarily speaking), only subjective value. However, precious metals have thousands of years of subjective value to support a claim of continued usefulness.
Gold will increase in value, but only in nominal terms. The real buying power of gold isn't likely to increase or decrease much.The yearly gold output isn't high enough to "inflate" it in the sense of a currency.
However, history suggests that the dollar will continue to fall in value, as all fiat currencies in history have done. So while gold isn't intrinsically valuable (a "store of value") it is traditionally a "valuable thing to store," and therefore a safer long-term bet than currency.
my g/f recently decided to sell some of her jewelry. it wasnt' a lot, but we got offers from $90 to $200 for mixed 925 silver and 10-24K gold.
also, the only stones anyone would pay for were diamonds. screw the tanzanite and rubies, the guy we eventually sold it to put thema ll in a bag and gave them back. i guess maybe if they were uncut it would have been better, and i didn't really expect anything from them but i didn't think they would be so dismissive of them all.
Quote from: zarn02 on November 29, 2009, 02:38:29 PM
Of course gold has no intrinsic value. Nothing has intrinsic value (monetarily speaking), only subjective value. However, precious metals have thousands of years of subjective value to support a claim of continued usefulness.
Gold will increase in value, but only in nominal terms. The real buying power of gold isn't likely to increase or decrease much.The yearly gold output isn't high enough to "inflate" it in the sense of a currency.
However, history suggests that the dollar will continue to fall in value, as all fiat currencies in history have done. So while gold isn't intrinsically valuable (a "store of value") it is traditionally a "valuable thing to store," and therefore a safer long-term bet than currency.
Agreed. If one could use money now, there's no point holding onto gold since its purchasing power in the future isn't particularly likely to rise.
Precious metal prices are historically volatile. Personally I wouldn't invest in gold now, as the price is too high. Gold is a good investment, when purchased at a low price. I expect the price to crash...not sure when...but it always does. When it gets back down to $300-$400/ounce then I'd consider buying.
I'm not an economist or anything, just an engineer who has been involved in gold mining (Nevada)...and has witnessed the high variability of gold prices leading to mine closures/openings and mine/consulting staff hiring/layoff cycles.
Gold prices in the last 30 years:
(http://goldprice.org/images/monthly_dollar.gif)
DAMNIT! I knew I should have bought gold before I was born.
Quote from: ducpainter on November 29, 2009, 02:21:34 PM
doomers....
Buy ammo if'n you're scared.
Or invest in lead & a bullet mold if you're
really scared...
Quote from: triangleforge on December 01, 2009, 07:20:46 AM
Or invest in lead & a bullet mold if you're really scared...
you could buy land in a desolate place and set up your own sustainable castle.
then dig a huge moat
the zombies arent' getting you there.