Amassing a supply of gold is a helpful part of a full investment and financial preparation plan. You've got your pick of gold formats from coins and bars to futures. You've also got scrap gold as an option, which is gold that's not in any particular format and that is sold for the scrap price (the price of the metal itself and not any additional workmanship or collectible value). This can be gold jewelry, old wiring, old fillings, and so on. Even the gold you panned as a kid at an amusement park can count as scrap gold, and there are a lot of advantages to having this scrap gold around.
You're Likely Selling It as Scrap Anyway
First, when you sell physical gold, you'll likely sell it for the scrap price anyway. While you could sell a coin as a collector's item, that's not that easy to do, and not a lot of places will buy those from you. Some will, of course, such as coin stores, but many of those will pay the scrap price. If you want gold that you can cash in easily, you're likely going to rely on the scrap price. So searching for collectible gold coins won't do much for you unless you're an avid collector yourself. (In which case, you might not be thinking about selling that gold in the first place.)
It's Very Easy To Find
Scrap gold is easy to find. You can buy gold chains online, and as long as you can verify that they're real gold and that you haven't bought a fraudulent product, you have scrap gold now. It just happens to look very nice. You can buy industrial gold pellets or broken gold jewelry. Got a gold coin that your dog chewed up? That's scrap gold. Even if you have a full, undamaged gold coin, such as a Maple Leaf, if you're willing to buy and sell at the scrap price, that's scrap gold.
You've Got a Wider Range of Sales Options
Selling scrap gold, as mentioned, is also a lot easier. However, it's not just the fact that you're likely to get the scrap price and not a collectible price that makes it so easy to sell scrap gold. Scrap gold can be in smaller sizes than coins, meaning you can get smaller amounts of money. This is helpful in that you can sell the gold for some cash without reducing your gold stash by too much. Also, many industries use scrap gold, and if you know some artists who like to use gold in their work, for example, you have another outlet for selling the gold if needed. The same goes for people who make jewelry. But it will be easiest to go to a company that buys gold specifically.
The One Thing To Look Out For: Know the Exact Weights
Be careful if you buy gold in formats other than coins and bars. Coin and bar sizes and weights are standardized. Buy a 1-ounce Maple Leaf, for example, from a reputable source, and you know you've got 1 ounce of gold. If you buy broken gold jewelry, however, it would be very easy for an unscrupulous buyer to claim the gold weighed less than it actually did. Be sure you know the weight of each piece of gold you have.
Unless society suddenly figures out how to mass-produce lab gold for cheap, gold will remain a valuable resource that can help you ride out periods of low cash income. For more information, contact a company that buys scrap gold.
