How Smart Gold Investors Profit from Unexpected Events

How Smart Gold Investors Profit from Unexpected Events

Most gold investors tend to be pretty conservative investors. They hold onto their gold and think, “it’s a quiet market right now...prices are stable and relatively low...and not much is happening...I can relax and just wait until something changes.” But they’re wrong, because unexpected things do happen in the precious metals markets. We’ve just learned that from the recent strong uptick in gold trading prices that was triggered by instability in the Chinese stock market. Who saw that coming? Everyone was motoring along and thinking that nothing much was happening and then suddenly something unpredictable really did.

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Be on the Lookout for Valuable Gold Alloys

Be on the Lookout for Valuable Gold Alloys

...Those alloys are almost always used to make gold jewelry. But in case you think gold alloys are only used to make jewelry, think again. Gold alloys can be found in other places too, like these . . . 

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Four Resolutions that Can Make You Lots of Money in Gold in the New Year

Four Resolutions that Can Make You Lots of Money in Gold in the New Year

If you’ve already made a list of resolutions for the new year, please take it out and get ready to add some more. We’d like you to add the following to your list. If you do, we predict you will make a few thousand dollars – maybe a lot more – by finding and recycling gold in the coming year.

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Little Gold Items that Can Add Up to Big Dollars

Little Gold Items that Can Add Up to Big Dollars

Some small gold and gold-filled items are easy to overlook. They roll around in drawers. They escape notice at antique malls and estate sales. But make no mistake about it. If you keep your eyes open for them and buy them and set them aside for processing by a qualified gold refinery, they can put a lot more dollars in your pocket than you expect. Today, we’re sharing the following list of small gold items that are not on most people’s radar.

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Recycling Gold - Do Older or Newer Sources Give You the Greater Yield?

Recycling Gold - Do Older or Newer Sources Give You the Greater Yield?

I recently took a close look at the inner workings of an old stereo console that dates from the mid-1950s. It’s one of those “hi-fis” that were so popular back then. It doesn’t work anymore and would probably cause a fire if we left it plugged in, but it starts conversations. If you look inside, you’ll see that it contains an amplifier, a radio receiver, two big speakers, and even a turntable, all packed into a heavy piece of cabinetry. There are vacuum tubes, lots of wires, an antenna, and miscellaneous other components. But is there any gold inside? 

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What You Need to Know about Recycling Gold Chains

What You Need to Know about Recycling Gold Chains

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? 

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Profitable, Perfectly Legal Lessons You Can Learn from Gold Heists

Profitable, Perfectly Legal Lessons You Can Learn from Gold Heists

Here at Gold Refiners.com, part of Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners, we are 100% committed to doing business honestly and ethically. We very rarely get calls from people who want us to extract precious metals in ways that shortcut environmental laws, for example. But when we do, we turn that business away. Yet the fact remains that some lessons can be learned from crooks – the most successful of them are pretty smart, after all – about how to honestly get some more profit from gold.

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Does Country of Origin Affect the Value of Gold Bullion Bars or Coins?

Does Country of Origin Affect the Value of Gold Bullion Bars or Coins?

The short answer to that question is that gold is gold, no matter whether it comes from Australia, England, China, Canada, South Africa or anywhere else. But there is more to it than that, because not all gold investment items are made of pure 24k gold. That is especially true if you are investing in gold coins, not bullion bars, because many of them contain small amounts of other metals that have been added to make them more durable. That explains why some popular investment coins, like the American Eagle and the South African Krugerrand, are actually made of 22k gold – only .9167pure.

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Is White Gold Worth More than Other Gold?

Is White Gold Worth More than Other Gold?

The title of today’s post reflects a question that we heard from a caller recently, who asked, “Is white gold worth more than other gold . . . it contains platinum, right, so it should be worth more per ounce than other gold.” The caller’s reasoning is sound, but unfortunately the answer to his question is a bit more complex than he might realize. Here are some facts that clear up the confusion.

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New Book Reveals Best Places in America to Pan for Gold

New Book Reveals Best Places in America to Pan for Gold

You don’t have to invest a ton of money before you go out and look for gold. If you want to, you can actually start by using your hat to scoop up gravel and silt from the bottom of streams. If you do a little searching online, you will find that plenty of equipment is available for casual and serious hobbyists. 

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Why the Gold Kentucky Derby Trophy Could Be the Most Valuable Trophy Ever Made

Why the Gold Kentucky Derby Trophy Could Be the Most Valuable Trophy Ever Made

Odds are that you will never find a trophy like that one at a yard or estate sale, or find a gold or gold-plated trophy either.  But you will find silver-plated and even solid sterling trophies that you can recycle using a qualified silver refinery like Specialty Metals Smelting and Refining, the parent company of GoldRefiners.com.

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Can You Reclaim Gold from Antique Ronson and Zippo Lighters?

Can You Reclaim Gold from Antique Ronson and Zippo Lighters?

Although chances are slight that the lighter will contain a quantity of gold that is worth recycling, a small number of lighters have been made over the years with gold and gold-filled cases that really do contain gold that can be profitably recycled – they’ll pay back your $25.00 investment four or five times over or maybe even more. If not, chances are you can sell the lighter on eBay and get your investment back anyway.

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Is There Hidden Treasure in Your Home?

Is There Hidden Treasure in Your Home?

If you own an old house, there is a pretty good chance that a previous occupant hid something valuable in it. People conceal valuables to hide them from thieves and from their own family members. Sometimes they hide cash they have earned to avoid paying income tax on it. Sometimes they even hide things that they have stolen.

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Don’t Fall Victim to “Cash for Gold” Scams

Don’t Fall Victim to “Cash for Gold” Scams

The words “Cash for Gold” have been cropping up nearly everywhere recently. They appear in ads on billboards, on loose ads in packets that arrive in the mail, and even on store signs. It seems kind of odd that there is so much demand for your gold at a time when it’s not trading at top-of-market prices, doesn’t it? And in fact, it is kind of odd. But there is an explanation, and not a very happy one...

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Should You Recycle, Keep, or Sell that Old Gold Watch?

Should You Recycle, Keep, or Sell that Old Gold Watch?

There is money to be made recycling the gold that is found in watches in this category. Forty or 50 years ago, many American watch companies like Gruen and Waltham made watches with cases that were gold-filled (i.e., plated with thick layers of gold that are worth recycling). Still other American companies imported Swiss watch movements and put them in gold-filled cases. Less-than-high end watches with gold-filled cases are often good candidates for recycling.

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Some Solid Advice on Investing in Gold Coins

Some Solid Advice on Investing in Gold Coins

Gold coins can be valuable because of their melt value – the amount of gold that can be extracted from them by a gold refinery. They can be worth even more because of collectible value – if they are rare, historically significant, in beautiful condition, or possess other extras that collectors are looking for.

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How Much Gold Is Hiding in Cemeteries and Burial Sites?

How Much Gold Is Hiding in Cemeteries and Burial Sites?

If you use a powerful metal detector to search for precious metals in a cemetery near where you live, what will happen? One result of your search will be that the local police will arrive and take you away, because you are acting like a grave robber. But in the 10-15 minutes before that happens, chances are that your metal detector will be recording a lot of “finds.”

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A Simple Security Lesson We Can Learn from Famous Gold Heists

A Simple Security Lesson We Can Learn from Famous Gold Heists

It’s fun to watch clever gold heists happening in movies like “The Italian Job.” It’s fun to read about gold thefts too – as long as the gold that was stolen didn’t belong to you. Here are the stories of three of the most intriguing gold heists in history...

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What Your Elderly Relatives Aren’t Telling You about the Gold They Own

What Your Elderly Relatives Aren’t Telling You about the Gold They Own

Most older relatives don’t intentionally hide precious metals from members of their families. What some tend to do, however, is to underestimate the value of the precious metal items that they own. As a result, they fail to cash in on their value at a time of life when money could come in very handy for them.

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