Portland Gold Buyers, LLC

04/12/2018

How to Test Gold with Nitric Acid

One of the most effective methods of testing gold testing using nitric acid. However, as you will see soon, this method is not infallible. The video shows gold and copper alloy reactions to nitric acid. What is important is to know how to interpret nitric acid test results.

Nitric Acid (HNO3) reacts with copper-based alloys. Most fake gold jewelry is copper based, meaning a form of a copper alloy, mainly type of brass (copper and tin). Acid rapidly turns green, bubbly and green fumes build up.

Interpreting Gold Acid Test:

That there is no cupric reaction means that the metal is not copper based, not that it is gold. For example, aluminum does not react with nitric acid. If the item reacts as copper, then it is not. Given that most fake gold is basically brass, this is a great test.

Learn more:

How to Test Gold with Nitric Acid Nitric Acid Gold Testing How Properly Test Gold Items with Nitric Acid and Properly Interpret the Results One of the most common, and most effective methods of tes…

09/29/2017

LIFE OF A GOLD COIN

I bought a lot of gold coins in my career as a precious metal dealers. With a provable record of over 4000 years, it can for sure be said that gold is the most reliable way to store, transport and transfer value. Thus, gold coins, specially old ones, have a very long history.

A typical example of this would be an American Double Eagle gold piece. This coins were minted until prior to 1934, are 90% fine gold, and have a total mass of 33.43 grams and contain 30.09 grams of pure gold, which is the part that counts.

Without getting into politics, too much history, and other matters that can get me off subject, it is important to know that this coins belong to the days of the bi-metalic genuine gold exchange. Basically, people paid things with either gold or silver, and paper money was in the form of certificates with a claim against an specific amount of physical gold.

If someone traveled to another country, or paid for an item to be imported into the US, the payment was in US silver or US gold coins. Thus, this coins were distributed all over the world. Not only that, since this coins became so popular all over, most often, instead of being melted down, they were used to in turn pay for other items. So the coins were all over, passing from banks to individuals, individuals to other individuals, and also used to pay taxes, etc.

In the case of the US Double Eagles, the Roosevelt administration collected most of them, melted them into refined pure gold bars, and stored the gold in Fort Knox. Most of the Double Eagles that survived were out of the US. Then, when gold was again made legal in the US, a lot of this gold coins started to make it back to the US. This was in 1974.

Chances are that the gold coins shown in the picture was outside the US for a very long time, Who know all the places this coin went to. No wonder it has plenty of circulation marks.

This phenomenon is not unique to the US gold coins. This is very common.

09/29/2017

HOW DOES SELLING DIAMONDS WORK

Diamonds are valuable, beautiful and desirable stones. They come in all varieties of clarity, cut, carat and color. On top of that, they are a natural mineral, each one unique. Thus, diamonds are complex items. It takes a good bit of expertise to effectively deal with diamonds. If you want to sell a diamond, or diamond jewelry, I can do a good job for you. I pay top dollar for diamonds. Specially when it comes to diamonds that are over a few thousand dollars, I am very hard to beat.

This is how it works.

1- Call me at 971-222-3435 or email me at [email protected]

2- Explain me what you have. Single loose diamond, a diamond ring, other diamond jewelry? Based on that, I can start doing my homework

3- If you have any appraisals, certificates, sales receipts, invoices, etc, email me a good scan or picture so I can read it

4- If the information is not enough for me to assess the diamond, I will order a grading report based on GIA standards. I always do this with the larger diamonds with no GIA certificate

5- I will make an offer based on the information gathered, hopefully it works for you

6- If it does I will pay you either cash, cashier's check or wire transfer, depending on the situation.

09/28/2017

MELEE DIAMONDS - SMALL DIAMONDS

This video shows 3.47 carats worth of melee diamonds from several pieces of gold jewelry.

Melee diamonds are small diamonds usually used in arrays to create accents or highlights in gold and platinum jewelry.

At the time of buying jewelry with melee, depending on the quality and size, quantity, etc, most of their cost is on the labor it took to install them.

At the time of selling to a gold buyer, melee may or may not be recoverable.

At Portland Gold Buyers, LLC I as much as possible, pay for melee diamonds. Sometimes they are worth a good bit, but most of the time very little, or nothing, if the diamonds would have to be removed, the cost of that labor must be considered.

09/28/2017

Vintage double tiger claw pendant from India

09/28/2017

LIFE OF A DIAMOND

Diamonds are, by far, the most valued precious stones. The reason is clear, they refract light in a way that attracts and pleases the human eye. Diamonds will remain in fashion for a long time. Diamond jewelry has been around for at least 2000 years.

Diamonds last a long time. They are very interesting items. Here is a brief overview of the life of a diamond.

1- The diamond gets extracted from a mine. This may have been recently, or maybe hundreds of years ago. Somewhere in between for sure

2- The diamond gets cut such that refraction is improved and it works in jewelry. Lets assume that the diamond was initially cut one in the 1800s, which is less likely but realistic

3- At some point, when the diamond was chipped. This was more common with the older stones, so it lost refraction quality and was hard to re-use as it was in another jewelry

4- Eventually the owner of the diamond got done with it. Maybe the person passed away, had a life changing event, needed the money, who knows. At that moment the diamond was sold

5- The dealer that bought the diamond eventually sold the diamond to a diamond cutter, or send it to be re-cut

6- The diamond was re-cut in most likely the "brilliant" shape, the most marketable being the "brilliant round cut"

7- Now the diamond was smaller than initially, but of a much better cut all together. Better refraction, less fragile, etc. On top of that much more desirable and marketable

8- The diamond was sold to another jeweler, and was mounted in a setting for another person to enjoy

9- Eventually the new owner, after a short, or long time got done with it and sold it to a gold buyer or diamond dealer

10- The gold buyer sold the diamond to a wholesale diamond dealer

11- Eventually steps 8, 9, and 10 get repeated over and over. This continues basically as long there are people on the planet earth

09/28/2017

09/28/2017

Here is an old school piece of manly jewelry. This money clip is for those who are serious about gold, and believe in cash on hand. No plastic here.

The clip is made of a 14K gold spring and bezel holding a Liberty Head Eagle ($10 Nominal) gold coin. This is a very nice vintage piece. It is sold as is. In excellent condition. As you can see, there is a minor dent on the bezel. The spring can be tightened but it is not needed. Holds cash very well.

The "COOL FACTOR" on this, for me is 8 to 9 out of ten. Of course, I am a gold bug, so I dig this type of things. Maybe you do too.

Money clip is for sale, as is, for $1600.

09/27/2017

1 KILO GOLD BAR vs SMART PHONE OBSERVATIONS

Gold is an amazing substance. Smart phones are amazing devices. A one kilo gold bar is about the same dimensions of a large screen smart phone. Here are some observations.

This is just a fun comparison. Smart phones are entirely different animals than 1 Kilo bars. Both are valuable for different reasons.

Weight:
- 1 Kilogram gold bar weighs 1000 grams
- (1) Large screen smart phone weighs around 20 grams
* Thus a (1) kilo gold bar weighs about the same as (50) large screen smart phones

Dollar Value
- 1 Kilogram gold bar, today, as of writing this post, is worth $41,250
- (1) Large screen smart phone, today, as of writing this post, is worth around $600
* Thus a (1) kilo gold bar is worth about the same as (69) large screen smart phones

Future Value in 10 years from this posting
- 1 Kilogram gold bar will be worth its spot market value, with will be close to today's value, plus adjustment for inflation on the least. So it should be, based on the last 10 years performance, around no less than $50,000
- A smart phone by that time most likely will be almost obsolete, if not unusable. So it will be worth less only a few dollars. Maybe around $50

04/02/2015

I wanted to share with you this awesome piece of jewelry.

It is a Victorian Raj 18K gold caped tiger claw pendant. The craftsmanship is superb. The claw itself is wild (tigers are dangerous animals it seems). For more info about go to http://portlandgoldbuyers.com/18k-gold-tiger-claw-pendant