I went to a pawn shop to cash in my summer crop of "yard sale jewellery" today...

[Richard Steele]

It was a "mixed" experience, but a damn good one overall.

The most surprising thing to me was, unlike most pawn shops
I've dealt with elsewhere, they had no interest in buying anything
just for its bulk "precious metal value". By weight, they only bought
about 1/4 of the silver I had. Seemed like no one there was aware that
jewellery could be bought just for its silver content.

Just one example: I had a pair of heavy sterling-silver earrings.
Heart-shaped, factory-stamped ".925", as thick as a dime and as big
as a half dollar. 5 or 6 grams apiece, easy...and they rejected them
because "those aren't in style anymore".
HEY YA FRICKIN MORAN: IF THEY WERE "IN STYLE" I WOULDN'T BE OFFERING THEM TO YOU
AT A PRICE BASED ON THEIR FUCKING WEIGHT, NOW WOULD I ?????????????

Sorry, I just needed to vent. Thank you for bearing with me.


Anyway, let's move on to the good news, shall we?

I kept (poorly) some notes on the things I bought, and I think I spent
about $45 on this summer's endeavors.
They bought about 1/4 of what I had for $48.17...and it was NOT the best 25%
of what I have.

Worst disappointment of the day: A wide herringbone 24" chain marked '14k'
that I bought for a quarter turned out to be a fake.
But, a green-tinged ring that looked like an antique Crackerjack prize
turned out to be genuine 10k with a nice clear red garnet.
They both came out of the same box: I spent 50 cents for the pair,
and got $14.57 for the little featherweight ring.

I finally sold my favorite find of the season. (I think I spoke of it here
in an earlier thread)
A big honking man's silver bracelet that had been crudely formed in Mexico
from a solid bar of sterling silver with a drill and a bandsaw...
I bought it for 50 cents at a yard sale 2 blocks from my house,
and it weighed in at 79.1 grams today!

I got $17.00 for it- that's a 3400% return on my four-bit investment.
Not bad for a 3-month wait.

And the best is yet to come. I've already turned a profit, and I'm still holding
about 20 grams of junk sterling, 2 ounces of US silver coins, 3 ounces of
.999 pure silver "commemorative" crap (as seen on TV).



Best of all, I've got a beautifully petite little "Lady Elgin" wristwatch
with a 14k white gold & ten-diamond case, and the SMALLEST
Speidel 'Spand-O-Flex' band I've ever seen. It's so small, I could twist it double
and wear it for a ring.

It's in perfect working condition, near-mint.
If any of you know any young ladies or "little people" with a 5 1/2 or 6 inch wrist
who are looking for an elegant vintage wristwatch, drop me a line!

[Vinca]

1. I should have sold my bits and pieces at the height of gold prices,

but I'm always afraid I'll get screwed on the price from these places. The guy I go to won't even take silver unless it's Tiffany. Actually, I don't find much in the way of precious metals because there are so many people on the hunt these days. I don't think I've found any gold this year.

[yy4me]

3. Hi Vinca, remember our talk about a reliable jeweler? I do not

and will not deal with the pawn shops and "we buy gold"places. They may or may not be honest but a store front jeweler has a business to protect that will only survive on its reputation.

When gold was over $1000.00 an ounce, I took many years worth of junk gold of no merit and all the old silver (cement removed) candlesticks, compotes, junk stuff, twisted base, mangled, to a local jeweler. I ended up with a pretty sizable check. He asked for ID and had me sign a paper swearing that all the march was mine. I did so gladly because it was mine and I felt comfortable with the fact that he was doing business properly.

By law he has to hold the mdse for 2 weeks before refining and in that regard I feel sorry for him. Gold dropped quite a bit and I'm sure he lost some of his money. He checked every piece, tested the unmarked stuff right in front of me. Since I knew what he was doing, I watched. He weighed it front of me too.

I left with a check, and a good feeling. What I got will not amount to much on the scale of things but I'm free of it and probably never find another thing worth scrapping.

[KoKo]

2. Problem is...no one seems to care about this kind of thing anymore...not in my family

or friends, or relatives. They just don't care about "History, Value, Nostalgia, or any of it."

What's even worse is that they want to throw out EVERYTHING when a Relative (Mother, Father, Aunt, Uncle or the rest of anyone born before the 90's because it's all "CRAP!" They call Goodwill or whatever before they even sort through it ...because who has time to deal with "Old Peoples' Junk" these days. They DON'T WANT it... The AUCTIONEERS don't have a market for it...it's useless "CRAP" these days and it's thrown out if Goodwill doesn't want it...but mostly thrown out before "Goodwill" or other Charities even get to SEE IT!

It's amazing...we've gone since Late Clinton Years through Bush...to saying that NOTHING has VALUE ANYMORE...because...we live "Minamilist" these days and don't need that "old peoples' stuff."

Yet...I remember back in the early "90's" where folks really cared about "REAL STUFF" as opposed to Chinese Stuff...Imported Cheap Stuff" ...and that there was worth and value in "Handmades and Collectables" because the were AMERICAN!

What happened? Everythign COLLAPSED and "NOTHING AMERICAN MADE" seems to matter any more...

Why is this? Any thoughts...? :shrug: