Last year a man made an interesting discovery when he was poking around in a defunct old jewelry factory. He pulled open a few drawers and found that they contained about two pounds of old gold-toned chains. His discovery was a real “mixed bag.” Some of the chains were wound up on cardboard spools so they could be cut to length for bracelets and necklaces. Other chains had already been cut to length and had clasps installed, which sometimes displayed karat markings. Those marks made it easier to understand which chains contained real, recyclable gold. But what about the spaghetti-like tangle of short end pieces of chain, scraps of chain with clasps attached and a mixed bag of other stuff that included unused clasps and other findings in little plastic bags? How was he supposed to figure out what all that stuff was worth?