Precious Metal Trading

Pure Silver… Fine Silver

2008-06-06T14:48:00.001-07:00

By Linda Polansky

Wearing silver jewelry is quite fashionable for young people and its white luster bestows a serene elegance on the wearer. You will find exquisite silver jewelry available in the market ranging from beautiful silver charms, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, bangles and watches. It’s much more affordable compared to gold and exudes a shine quite similar to platinum.

Silver has been used to make jewelry right the time of the Phoenician, Byzantine and Egyptian empires. Today, most of the world’s silver comes from the mines of Mexico and Peru.

Pure silver is call fine silver. Since silver in its purest forms is very soft and quite malleable, other metals are mixed, to make it more durable. It’s important to look out for the 925, .925 or Sterling Silver mark, when buying jewelry because these marks ensure that the silver is 92.5% pure. The remaining 7.5 percent of the jewelry is copper. Even though any other metal can be used to make up the 7.5 percent, copper is preferred since it is found to be the most suited alloy to silver as it can improve the metal’s hardness and durability without diminishing it’s white luster.

The 925, .925 or Sterling Silver marks shows that the silver jewelry you are buying is not silver plated and not an imitation made with other white colored metal alloys. At the same time, if you find a mark higher than the recommended 92.5%, avoid buying the piece as it will be too soft. It can’t endure everyday wear and is not worth the money spent.

One thing about silver jewelry is that it develops a tarnish, which occurs quite naturally when it interacts with sulfur or hydrogen in the surrounding air. Tarnish can be removed by using polish specifically formulated to remove tarnish from silver jewelry. Silver polishes, solutions, or cloths required to remove tarnish can be found at local hardware stores or specialty craft stores.

Avoid exposing silver to chemicals such as bleach or ammonia which may happen when you are cleaning your house. When swimming in chlorinated water remove or set aside your silver jewelry, such as earring or chains, before your swim. Such exposures will only damage silver jewelry. It’s best to place your silver jewelry in cloth pouch or in a separate area of you jewelry box. Proper care will ensure that your silver jewelry lasts for a lifetime.

About the Author: Linda Polansky writes about Jewerly Coupons, Zales coupon codes and Diamond coupon odes.

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Basics Of Soldering Precious Metals

2008-06-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

By Adam Hunter

Before soldering there are three factors which must be considered. The design must lend itself to soldering, parts to be soldered must fit closely and accurately and the correct solder and flux must be used.

Solders are typically classified according to their melting points - easy, medium and hard. This therefore refers to the ease of melting the solder. Hence an easy grade solder melts before a hard grade one. This can be used where a sequence of joints are to be made. Usually a solder must conform to the same hallmarking rules as the metal being joined - for example, a 9ct solder must contain at least 37.5% gold. However, there are some concessions such as Platinum Solders and some white gold alloys.

Gas and compressed air mixtures are generally the most satisfactory for torch soldering. Fine adjustment of flame size and temperature are possible. The flame should be kept constantly on the move over the whole joint area, or over as wide an area as can be conveniently joined, in a single application of solder.

The joint areas must be free from dirt and grease, and ideally cleaned with a file or emery paper to ensure the solder will wet the parent metal. Flux should be applied to the joint area and solder prior to heating. Fluxes promote wetting of the workpiece by the molten solder. This is done by removing any oxide films present on both the parent metal and solder and prevent further formation of oxides during heating. The flux must be completely fluid and active before solder liquidation and should remain so until after the solder solidification.

If the size of the joint is large further flux additions may be made during the process. It must be noted that warming of the workpiece may be required to ensure full retention of the flux paste over the whole joint area. The torch should initially be held some distance from the workpiece so that the flame heats the work generally. If components of different size are being joined the torch should predominantly heat the heavier item.

There are two general techniques used to apply solid solder. Preplacement is where small pieces of solder are placed at the joint seam prior to heating. Heat is then applied until the solder flows into the joint. Feeding is where the fluxed joint is heated to temperature and tip of the solder wire is fed into the joint and should melt on contact.

Using both these techniques the joint should be heated more strongly than the remainder. The time and temperature required to complete a joint must be kept to a minimum.

Gold and silver flux residues may normally be removed by soaking in hot water. Any further residues that persist may then be removed by brushing. In difficult cases the workpiece should be impressed in 5 - 10% sulphuric acid solution for 2 - 5 minutes, rinsed in hot water and brushed again. For large scale soldering a small furnace may be used to provide sufficient uniform heat to the workpiece. For mass production batch or conveyer type furnaces may be used. However, the quantities of components to be soldered must be large enough to justify the relatively high capital expenditure and development of a method for each particular soldering operation.

All workpieces can be successfully finished by the standard practices and processes currently available. It must be noted that powdered borax does not always meet the requirements for all applications, where the extensive range of other solders now available may be used.

About the Author: Adam Hunter – E-commerce Marketing Manager of www.cooksongold.com. Cookson Precious Metals offer a choice of supplies from over 10,000 products including jewellery tools, findings, precious metal clay, wire and metal sheet.

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Precious Metal Investment Options

2008-06-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

By J Lloyd

The most straightforward route into investing in the precious metals market is to buy shares in mining companies.

Dependent upon the investors’ attitude, to risk putting money into mining stocks can cover virtually the whole spectrum from reasonably low risk to the most speculative of investments.

Bear in mind that in most cases, established mining companies will operate several mines extracting a principal metal and, as a by product, one or often more metals.

These major miners may have as their principle source of revenue a base metal such as copper or lead with gold, silver and/or platinum contributing a lesser proportion to total turnover.

It should also be understood that these proportions will vary, often very considerably, dependant upon demand and price for the various metals produced.

At the other end of the investment spectrum are the penny mining shares.

As long as people have been investing in shares there has been a very dubious market in stocks of mining companies that have never produced or were never intended to produce.

This is not to say that all were only pushed to part naïve investors from their money but to this day there are still some scams around in this market.

It is just too easy to produce a convincing prospectus with data about ore samples, expected production etc of which the average person has no technical knowledge and no means of verifying the claims.

If you join the ranks of investigative investors you will no doubt be accessing the web for information and if so you will soon be receiving unsolicited emails recommending that you purchase shares immediately in this or that unheard of company, often miners, as they are just about to announce a major break through or hit a rich seam or similar reason which is going to send the price soaring.

This is known as share pushing and please do not be taken in, we have never known any body but the pushers making money.

You have been warned!

Having said that, a lot of money can be made, or lost, by picking penny miners that stand up to a rigorous check of their credentials, including the background of the companys’ officers, balance sheet etc.

Also consider the location of the mine or mines

e.g. are they in politically sensitive countries. There is no substitute for research whether it is a major mining company or a penny stock.

The cheapest, easiest and fastest way to invest in stocks and shares is through an on line brokerage account.

They offer the lowest commissions, fastest executions of orders with platforms that show tic-by-tic movements of your potential investments. There are usually areas that can be accessed to give the latest company news, principle figures from the latest balance sheets and other relevant information.

If there is a downside, it is that, unlike traditional stockbrokers, who you can talk to about your investments and have their views and advice, you will have to rely on your own judgement in formulating your own investment strategy and make your decisions to buy, sell or hold

About the Author: J Lloyd is the author of this article. He writes for http://preciousmetalinvestment.com

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Feel The Gold Rush With Gold Coins

2008-06-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

By Adam Masterson

A lot of people find collecting gold coins as not only an incredibly interesting hobby but a fairly lucrative one as well! Over time, your collection will accure value and parts of it can be sold if you desire. This way, you will have additional income for yourself later in life in addition to a fantastic collection of valuable coins.

1. Face To Face: Coin Collectors Know Best
The internet is home to a lot of gold coin dealers wherein you can meet all sorts of people from all over the world who are into both buying and selling gold coins. Of course, it is a rather convenient venue for you to be able to do your transactions. You must be extremely conscious, however, when it comes to dealing with other gold coin collectors that you will meet through the internet. While there are some real gold coin enthusiasts in the internet, there are also those people who are posing as gold coin collectors and are just looking to rip you off.
2. Why Gold Coins?
The history of gold coins dates as far back as 2,700 years ago. The first gold coins in the world were issued in Lydia around 640 B.C. certain internet websites will provide you with a lot of information about the history of gold coins.

As money, gold coins have been a convenient way for people to do their transactions. Gold was only used for coins that were considered of a higher value. As gold is not the most common ore, it became impractical for gold to be used in the common coin systems of all major countries. This means a collection of gold coins is extremely rare due to the fact that gold coins are no longer being produced.
3. Gold Coins For Investment
- Gold is sensible investment: all major countries use reserves of gold (such as Fort Knox) to maintain their national worth

- A highly convenient investment

- Physical gold is extremely stable in value
4. Commemorative Coins
When it comes to the commemorative gold coins, since gold is deemed as a highly valuable kind of metal, it is an obvious choice when it comes to making or producing special commemorative coins. In the past, there are sets of gold coins that were just issued to mark coronations as well as other important state events. A lot of financial reserves that are being held by banks are in the form of gold coins. Gold coins are a desired form of a reserved asset since gold coins are not really used for circulation anymore.
5. About Collectors
There are a lot of various gold coin sellers, buyers as well as collectors who are waiting to bid on the best kind of gold coins in the market most especially in the internet. For most gold coins that can be bought as well as sold at prices that are closely related to their intrinsic gold content. The most popular bullion gold coins are the krugerrands as well as the sovereigns.

For most gold coin collectors, there are the highly coveted rare gold coins and a lot of gold coin collectors are interested in these rare gold coins that they will offer high bids just to be able to get their hands on these.

A lot of people who are looking for things to collect are in real treat if ever they try out collecting gold coins most especially because gold coins can be bought in highly excellent and may be in even mint condition for only a relatively low premium over the gold coin’s gold content. Also, since the coin is made from gold, it is highly unlikely that it will tarnish or even discolor.

If you are looking into collecting gold coins, first research the various gold coins that are available in the market today. Find out how much they are really worth due to their gold content, and then factor in any additional value to the coin for being rare. Always be on the lookout for fake coins, and have coins appraised by a gold coin expert to avoid large differences in price.

About the Author: For more great gold coin related articles and resources check out http://www.weknowcoins.com

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Gold - Buying

2007-12-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

By Eric Hartwell

Gold is the ancient, magical metal of the gods. Early man discovered gold, created adornments with it and valued it for its shine, luster and sensuality. It has been in use in human history since the dawn of recorded history.

The contemporary carat system for classifying gold jewelry arose from the Byzantium Era where their unit of currency, the solidus, was separated into 24 keratia. Pure 24-carat gold is too soft for use in jewelry and must be alloyed with silver, copper or bronze to strengthen its durability for long-lasting wear. In Europe, 18k gold is the standard, also called ‘750’ denoting 75% gold. In the United States, it is more common to see 14k gold used in jewelry production. This represents slightly more that 50% pure gold with a European grading of ‘585’ or 58.5% gold. Gold is considered solid gold at 10k, ‘417’ Europen scale meaning 41.7 % gold. Anything less than 10k cannot be sold under the label of ‘gold’. When buying a piece of gold jewelry, look for a quality mark and a trademark or hallmark stamped somewhere on the piece of jewelry. This will ensure that the buyer is purchasing genuine gold jewelry of the caliber it is marked with. These stamps are under strict control and will guarantee the validity of the piece for purchase. Gold exists in a variety of colors, depending on the metals it is alloyed with. Yellow gold is composed of silver, copper and gold. If copper is the only metal alloyed, the gold will have a pink sheen or pink gold. When platinum, palladium, zinc and copper are alloyed with gold the result is white gold. Green gold includes zinc, copper and silver.

The pricing of gold is based on caratage, design, craftsmanship and gram weight. Gram weight and caratage tell the buyer the quantity of gold in the piece of jewelry but the construction and design are essential factors in determining its value. Each piece of gold jewelry is unique and original and, if properly cared for, will last a lifetime.

Inspect the quality of the construction of the piece when making a purchase. Clasps, fasteners and working catches are all very important to the value of the jewelry. Be aware that soldering marks should not be visible on the backs of pins or earrings and the posts should be very secure and sturdy. When examining gold chain, it is advisable to lay it on a flat surface and ascertain that the links are intact, without kinking or bending.

Gold jewelry should never be exposed to chlorine, it can weaken the structure of the metal and ultimately end in breakage of the piece. Gold can become scratched and dented when treated harshly, store the jewelry in a soft cloth when it is not being worn. A cleaning solution of lukewarm soapy water will brighten your gold jewelry or bring it to a jeweler to have it steam-cleaned. Use a chamois or soft cloth to polish, dry and shine the piece. Gold does not react well with dust, moisture, make-up or perspiration.

If a weakness in the jewelry becomes apparent, bring it to the jeweler for repair immediately.

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Buying Gold: Things To Look Out For...

2007-06-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

By Christine Loxley

The first rule when you are buying any type of gold jewelry is a simple one: make sure that the gold is hallmarked. Gold is stamped according to how pure it is as you can have 24K,22K,18K,14K,10K, and 9K.

There are some instances where the hallmark comes in the form of a fraction to show the exact percentage of its purity. When looking into gold jewelry you need to look if there are the letters GP or EP anywhere on the piece of jewelry. GP stands for gold that is not pure gold but gold-plated. This is important because a piece of jewelry that you think is inexpensive can carry this insignia and it basically means that there is not much actual gold on the piece. EP means that the gold is electro-plated.

If you run into someone selling gold where there is no marking on the gold at all assume the worst that it is goldtone which is not gold in any way but a metal which is golden in color. If the price of a gold piece of jewelry is too good to be true it probably is. There are many types of gold available at different prices just be aware of the different worth of each type of gold and then see if it is a good deal or not.

You can not judge gold by its color. Even though with gold with a higher level of purity it will be brighter in color than a lower level purity gold. If you are looking into buying gold jewelry which is older if it is solid gold it should still not tarnish. If the piece is made from goldtone or is gold plated than it generally will show some sign of tarnishing.

These are some little things to know about gold, but considering gold and gold jewelry can be expensive it can be wise to have a professional jeweler or metals expert look at a piece you will be buying to see if it is the read deal or just fool’s gold.

About the Author: Christine Loxley contributes to goldjewelryworld a site of gold jewelry articles and gold rings information.

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