With gold above $3,000 an ounce recently some people are wondering, “Should I melt down that gold jewelry I’m not wearing and make something new? Or use it to fix other jewelry?”
Sounds good, right? But not so fast.
If you have gold jewelry you’re not wearing and you’d like to put it to work in making new jewelry, the best solution is to give you what’s called the “raw gold” value of your gold jewelry. We then apply that amount to whatever we’re working on for you—new jewelry, or restoring an existing piece of jewelry. Melting down existing gold sounds good, but it’s actually not a good idea.
Why? When jewelers make gold jewelry they do so using pure gold. 14 karat gold has other metals alloyed to it. Those alloys do good work—they strengthen the gold. But when you melt a 14 karat gold piece of jewelry they get in the way, causing problems in working with the metal. Once melted and then cast, the gold can develop bubbles and also become more porous, making it susceptible to cracking.
So save that impulse to melt something for the next time you’re making brownies. And call your friendly neighborhood Jewelry Doctor* at 415/796-3969 (text 415/596-4244), so we can get started making something wonderful for you!
San Francisco Jewelry Doctor. Your source for beautiful—and long-lasting—jewelry.
*If you can read this, we’re in the neighborhood.
©2025 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.
Posts
