This post is a bit technical, but I think it will be of interest to people thinking about melting sentimental gold for a new design:
I frequently get asked to make new jewellery out of people’s old gold. While it is possible, there is a risk that the old gold will be “contaminated”.
This can happen if there is a little bit of un detected solder present or sometimes if the alloys of the various scrap pieces don’t match.
The result is gold that cracks as soon as I try to shape it into a useable form. If this happens, there is virtually no way to make the gold in to any kind of jewellery let alone the quality that I’m willing to stamp my name on.
Except in special circumstances I credit the scrap value of the old gold toward your purchase of new gold so that you can enjoy the highest quality possible.
Here are a couple pictures of an ingot of old 18K that is unfortunately not useable. One picture is taken with a 10x loupe so you can see the cracks a little clearer.
