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Comment by CrispyKerosene | Hacker News Reader

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CrispyKerosene

This is why if you ever get jewellery repaired or resized, ask for the scrap to be returned.

Some less than reputable places will try to off-handedly say it was discarded. They don't lose anything.

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Seems like this is only netting you $8 or so.

https://old.reddit.com/r/jewelry/comments/vno1to/question_re...

That's what they're charging to collect it at the end, not necessarily what the actual value is, although the value is low enough that they just collect all their scraps once or twice a year and sell them in a lot instead of messing with each individual piece per client otherwise.

That sounds miserable and desperate. A couple of dollars worth of scrap shavings. What will you do with that? Just let them have it.

Yea it’s like people that bring in their dead ancestors teeth, no one wants to buy an old tooth and certainly not one with $5 worth of gold in it.

I'll pay you $5 for gold teeth and make a tidy profit. This article from 2019[1] said $40-92 per crown. Multiply by 1.6 based on the way gold has appreciated since 2019[2] and that's $65-147 or so per tooth.

[1] https://thegoldcenter.com/how-much-gold-is-in-a-dental-crown... [2] https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-...

But you also have the cost of man hours, marketing that you buy gold, finding a smelter that will take teeth, or do it yourself. That’s not all profit, plus you don’t know the gold weight until you remove it from the tooth. Which is risk. Plus it’s possibly a biohazard.

These people buy millions per day in gold, I’m sure if it was profitable they wouldn’t turn it away.

You can try it though, go to all the gold stores in your area and tell them you’ll buy all the teeth they bring in.

LOL. Imagine being so miserable and desperate that you rob your grandmothers grave for a few dollars.

More and more graveyards are being fenced off and secured for this reason sadly. Plus generations ago some opted to be buried with their wedding rings and such. I know some smaller family ones in my area of central Washington have been robbed.

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