"Buerste" wrote in message
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snip--
Hi Harold,

I've got about 2.5 oz of dental gold laying around. Is it worth anything?

Tommy


Heh! It sure can be. Dental gold, assuming that's what you have, is not
only high in gold (you can safely assume 16 karat in most cases), but is
also alloyed with palladium and platinum. All depends on the nature of the
gold (how it was used in the mouth can make a difference in the alloy. There
are many dental alloys, not just a few), and when it was put in service.

When gold hit over $800 back in '80, many of the providers of alloys
introduced low gold content materials to curb the cost. Therefore there's
no guarantee that what you have will be of high value, but know that of all
the scrap varieties out there, aside from gold coinage, nothing yields
greater values than dental scrap. It was a favorite of mine, and a
wonderful source of the platinum metals.

You might try to determine the specific gravity of the material you have.
If it's high in gold, it will show by it's weight. Both platinum and gold
are exceedingly heavy, gold about 50% heavier than lead, and platinum about
10% heavier than gold. Dental gold of high gold content, therefore, is
generally unusually heavy.

If you had the desire, I could instruct you on processing them, but it's
rather involved for a guy that doesn't understand refining, and requires
nitric acid, which borders on the impossible to buy these days.

Ask if you're interested.

Harold