"Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote in message
.. .

"Buerste" wrote in message
...
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


I'd not be interested in any processing but I can get any chemistry I want
from a cousin in the business. I was wondering if I should sell it now. It
is very old, probably from the '40s. Where would I sell it?