Gift Idea: Melt Old Gold into New Bracelets
Family jewelry is special, but in tough times like these, it’s important to find value through every possible means. One way to do that without devaluing the sentimental importance of your heirlooms is to melt them down to have new gifts made for loved ones. A grandmother’s bracelet becomes matching earring sets for newborn twins. A necklace becomes a locket for the newlyweds’ first Christmas together. By going to a jeweler that also does cash for gold services, you can preserve precious memories and celebrate memories in the making at the same time.
Find out How Much Your Gold Is Worth
Before you can melt your gold down or do anything else with it, you should find out how much it’s worth. If you don’t know your jewelry’s melt value – how much it’s worth once you melt it down – you could lose money by making a bad deal with an unscrupulous merchant. Knowing the value of the gold will help you determine what type of jewelry you can have made with the melt.
To figure out how much your gold is worth, you just need to know the weight of the item. The easiest way to get your gold appraised is to use an online calculator. Simply put in the item’s weight, and the calculator gives you its estimated value. Basically, online calculators subtract the non-precious metal content from the precious metal content based on the item’s weight.
You also need to know the item’s purity. Purity of gold is based on how many carats the gold is. For example, if your gold necklace is a “14K” or “14 carat” piece, 14 carats is the measure of purity. Weigh all your gold items that have the same purity at once and use the total weight to help you determine how much your gold is worth.
Convert Your Gold
Once you’ve determined the gold’s approximate value, it’s time to decide what you want to do with it. Think about family members who are celebrating big life changes this year and create a special gift to commemorate to commemorate the occasion.
Most collectors and jewelry companies don’t pay full price for melted down gold. Instead, they pay a little under the gross melted value so that they can make a profit off the sale. You’ll also have to pay for the labor of the jewelry maker. Thus, the melted-down value is probably not what you will receive for your gold once you melt it down. However, it’s important you know your gold’s true value so that you can negotiate a deal that’s fair.
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November 29th, 2011 at 10:46 PM
This is a good article. Nice to read. Gives a lot of information. Thanks for sharing. ^_^
November 30th, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Your idea here is good and will definitely be perfect for a gift. However, we should make sure that this will be done critically because gold is precious. Perhaps, a jeweler can do this because they are more expert with it.
December 2nd, 2011 at 6:26 PM
Great tips! My mom also doing it. She let her broken jewelries melted to make a new piece of ring or pair of earrings.