How to Recycle Precious Metal to Make Jewelry

Recycling has become an environmental trend in today's world. Not only is it possible to recycle aluminum and plastic, but people have also started recycling precious metals to preserve the Earth and eliminate the need for further mining operations. Consider the following steps before recycling precious metal to make jewelry.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Assess the condition of available jewelry. If your jewelry is rarely worn or just takes up space in the jewelry box, you probably have excess jewelry that could be used for recycling.

2. Research jewelry recycling companies. Review the policies to make sure the policies are fair and provide market value for the gold.

3. Accumulate enough precious jewelry to be able to melt into the new desired piece of jewelry. If there is not enough recycled metal for the new piece, some companies will credit the amount of precious metal turned in and charge market value for the additional precious metal needed.

4. Examine the jewelry to be recycled. The inside or back of the jewelry should contain a mark that identifies the jewelry metal content and if the maker of the piece was an exclusive designer.

5. Remove the gems from the old piece of jewelry. The old gems can be used in a new piece. Generally, it will be cheaper to have a local jewelry store remove the gems than be charged a per gem fee from the recycling company.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that if more metal is needed to complete the new piece of jewelry, the recycling company uses equal quality precious metal. Some disreputable companies may add lesser quality metals that will decrease the overall value of the jewelry piece.

Who Can Help:

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[FrankFranklin]

on 3/15/2008 However, most pieces noted as 10KP, 14KP, or 18KP are NOT gold plated. The "P" indicates "plumb" or nearly exact in purity to the karat mark. This is a good mark, generally identifying well-made items.

Again, KUDOS for a great article!

Frank Franklin

http://www.JewelryRecyclingCenters.com

[FrankFranklin]

on 3/15/2008 Excellent piece on recycling jewelry.

I would add that consumers can save a lot of time by doing a few short minutes research on the Internet. My company, Jewelry Recycling Centers of America receives a lot of counterfeit jewelry made in Third World Countries. Untrained consumers cannot often determine the authenticity of the metals and gemstones on their own. However, it's amazing just how much time and money can be saved by the general public if they find their items are stamped with a karat mark ("K" i.e. 10K, 14K, 18K etc...) followed by, or containing, identifiers that commonly refer to the item as gold plated or similar. Most recycling service companies do not have interest in such items.

Such identifiers can be R.G.P., G.F., 1/20th 10K, etc... Quick searches on the Internet, with the lettering generally following the karat mark, will quickly educate most consumers.

H