Refining of lost wax gold nugget pendant?

Question

I have inherited 3 'lost wax' gold nugget pendants, which a GIA gemologist has analyzed and determined to be about 14K. They haven't sold on E-Bay. Is there somewhere that would refine them (remove the copper or whatever) and make them into a small ingot? It would have to be economically feasible, of course, to send them and have the refining done. Thanks!

Answer 1

Try http://www.goldintomoney.com for selling your gold to a refiner.  Honestly i'm not sure what a gold nugget pendant is, so its hard to estimate how much its worth.  14K is far from pure gold, so you can't expect too much.

Answer 2

14K is 14/24, or about 58.3% pure gold.  So if you know what they weigh, you know about how much gold is there.

The price of gold changes constantly, you can look it up anytime here:

http://www.kitco.com/

Dividing the momentary price of gold per troy ounce into 31.1 grams,  I get an approximate value of $29.47 per gram.  Multiplying by 58.3% for the 14K, then your nuggets are worth about $17.19 / gram.

If you know how much the nuggets weigh, them you know how much the gold is worth.  I don't know how hard it is to refine gold, the nuggets may include silver, copper, and other metals.  

If the amount of gold is small, the refiner might prefer to buy them from you.  I imagine that refining is best done in larger batches.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Unless the point of refining them is just to be able to say you own a gold ingot, I think you are better off selling them to a custom jewelry maker.  (There is at least one in Georgetown, and there is another--or there certainly used to be another--in Old Town Alexandria.)  Since the nuggets are already 14K, they would be "ready to use" for someone who designs wedding and engagement rings or other jewelry.  

If they are refined into pure gold, the ultimate user will have to blend the gold again to make it 14K or 18K.  That means the nuggest will need to be worked on twice--first to make them pure and then again to make strong enough to be usable in jewelry.  I don't think that will make economic sense.

Bottom line: Viewed purely from an economic standpoint, you are better off with what you have.  Look into refining only if you liove the idea of having pure gold for its own sake.

Good luck!