How do you spend your Saturday mornings?

Saturday is always an early bird thing with me, even in the winter. I go treasure hunting. I go to any yard sales that peak my interest. Today I went to one and got two 14k gold wedding bands for which I paid a total of $10.00 for the pair. The gold content was $108.00. After hitting the yard sales I went to the thrift stores. Nothing special at them so I headed to a small mall that has a couple of sellers most weekends. One seller had a sterling compote, $15.0o and a sterling nut dish $10.00. He also had 3 gold chains two 14k and one 10k and I bought all of them for a total of $45.00. Now you may ask why did I pay so much for the sterling. The compote has about 2 1/2 to 3 oz's and the nut dish has about 2 oz's of sterling silver. Even though they are weighted I know how much each has in silver minus the weighted base. I normally try to stay clear of weighted pieces but these had no damage and the price was right. By the way the gold chains had a total value of $100.00. I do this (except yard sales) everyday except Sunday and not for religious reasons but because the thrift stores are closed and the yard sales would be the same stuff different day.

Now I have been doing this for around 36 years. Only 13 years in my current location. This past week alone I found a 14k watch chain, 10k mans signet ring, pair of sterling S&P, sterling pitcher, and a sterling Salvador Dali art plate. The total weight of the sterling none of which were weighted was 28 ounces and the gold value total was $173.00. By the way I paid $2.00 total for the ring and watch chain. Chain is in great condition. The silver cost me $190.00 but the silver value of the lot was $346.00. With the items I got today the total value for the week is $777.00 while I paid out $292.00 total.

Now the reason the sterling is more expensive than the gold is because most people can ID sterling for what it is but not its true value. Now I got all of the sterling pieces listed above at One antique store. They knew it was sterling but not its TRUE value. All of these were in excellent condition. The Dali plate is valued at about $200.00 for its collectors value and yes it has the box, but I only count the silver value. The gold items above were at one thrift store.

Now on occasion I get sterling for the same low price as I do the gold. But more times than not the gold is by far the cheapest.

There is a gun show coming up and I will be looking for these types of items there too. Plus I need some specific items that should be available there.

My whole point of this post is not to brag but to have you go out and look for this kind of thing. In hard economic times I have the perfect skills for making money for little money invested.
Now of course I do not rush out and sell these items since I am not in need of the cash right away and most of this is for my families future and my full retirement. If I need quick cash I can sell locally for about 75% of the value (this is low should be around 80 to 85%) of the gold if I need some quick cash or I can send it off to a smelter and get 95% of its value. You can see why selling locally is not very attractive even at the prices I pay. Sending to the smelter takes about 7 to 10 days. The company I use charges no refining fees, no smelting fees, I get a flat 95% from my gold no matter what the karat and no matter how much I send.

I would be glad to send anyone who asks for it the info on what to look for and what to pay and the name of the smelter I use and what is a good selling price for your items.

Now a warning DO NOT SELL TO ANY OF THE PLACES ADVERTISED ON TV OR IN MAGAZINES PERIOD! You will be lucky to get 10% of any precious metal value if you get anything at all. Do a google search .

To contact me just leave your desired contact info on this post and I will get back to you as fast I can.