About once a year or so, I send my ‘junk’ precious metals off to be refined. It’s spring here now and it’s time to clean up. For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking hard at trophy bowls with odd engravings to people long dead, miss-matched flatware, broken jewelry and other bits that I’ve collected over the year. This year, I have about 30 lbs. of sterling and 2 lbs. of karat gold to refine.

I don’t take back a check, I take back gold ingots for my wife’s retirement. Me, no retirement needed. I’ll do this until I drop. I stash the ingots in my bank vault like Whitey Bulger.

My refiner pays me 98% of the gold value and 90% of the silver and platinum value. I very rarely find platinum in the second-hand stores. The last piece of platinum was sold to me a few months ago as a sterling necklace. Usually it’s white gold masquerading as sterling, but that day a nice filigree platinum and diamond necklace for the price of lunch.

I’m not going to scrap that piece. My wife will wear it for a few years until I find her some other sparkly item she likes better. Then, I’ll sell it at auction, eBay or at my jewelry booth at the Cambridge Antique Market. You can be sure I’ll charge more than lunch for it.

Today’s finds added to the outgoing scrap. I found a heavy 14 gram gold necklace and a pair of earrings for a few dollars while out hunting. Being all dented and twisted won’t matter to the refiner’s torch.