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A Few Questions

#1

Hi There,

Have a done a little fossicking on and off over the past few years. Have found myself a lovely lady and being a real do it yourself type of guy I want to get a ring made. I’ve never had much luck at the public fossicking areas although haven’t put in heaps of time either. Always find a few specs but nothing much. So i’m looking to learn a bit more on where to find gold (yes i know its where you find it!) and of the better spots to find it. I’ve mainly been to Goldsborough as its closest to me. Also How much gold is needed for a ring roughly and how much would it cost to get one made?

Cheers,

Ryan.

#2

Some of the jewelery shops in Nelson / Greymouth would be able to do that for you.
You won’t want to use 24k pure gold - as they wear thin, unless she keeps it in a box most of the time. So you’ll only need 18k. A ring will probably weigh about 4g, which means you only need about 4g of gold :slight_smile:
Let me tell you about maths. Due to impurities get 4 grams of gold, at the end you should get about 3 grams net. The jeweler will add 1 gram of copper.

You’re in a good area.

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#3

Awesome thanks for the info!

#4

Hokitika or Graymouth will have a jewelry who could do that no problem. Shop around tho. I got some rings made and the price difference was almost double from cheapest to most expensive. Exact same design. And I would go with 10k or 14. I got my ring 18k and it gets banged up and losses it shine really quick.

Good luck with the gold and the lady. Probably need more luck with the lady. hahaha

#5

I have spent a lot of time in Thailand most of the gold jewellery there is 23k and seems to wear well. Maybe they add something harder wearing than copper, maybe titanium…? Not sure

Maybe shop around a lot before you decide.

It’s a great feeling picking up a very close to pure gold, 8baht necklace. 8 baht is close to 4 Troy ounces.

#6

I had our rings made in chch. not much cheaper than buying of the shelf but it was our own gold . it took 15 gram but they are big and heavy.
the biggest problem is mine ring is broken it has a hole in it and the other one has a hole and a crack

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#7

What purity were they?

#8

Rings are a bit different then, say, a chain would be. I highly recommend not going 18k or higher on a ring. My ring is white gold. So gold mixed with Platinum. To get it to melt it takes a hell of a lot more heat and time then what normal gold takes. So long that when I was trying to melt the left over scrap into a ball I thought I had just created a crucible with a good chunk of gold stuck to the bottom. Yes I was using an OXY torch. Because your hands are always smashing, rubbing, touching, what ever else, it gets a lot more wear then other jewelry. Girls to. And it will show a lot quicker in how fast you lose the nice, out of the box shine. In the end, that is what your looking for. It will never wear away in your life time even at 24k, unless its a reallllllly thin ring. Most gold in NZ is 92-98% pure. So if you have 10 grams. You should end up with 9 after refining. Ask the jeweler who is making your rings for you if you get the keep the scraps. If they say no. Your getting ripped of on everything. And by going 14k you can maybe make 2 rings, and still be able to stand straight.

I used TP goldsmith in Hoki. The lady was really nice. Worked with us with everything as we had 2 different types of gold. One rose, one white for our rings. We got all the scraps, and was by far the cheapest, AND BEST. We talked to jewelers from Auckland to Invercargill, in person. 90% are not even jewelers, 5% are unskilled rip offs, and the other 4% are great jewelers, Just over charge. Arrowtown was double what I paid. In the end its up to you but I know TP jewelers makes great rings and if you are willing, she will even teach you how to make them if she has time.

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#9

hi goldpandemic
not to sure what they are mine will make up pretty quick when working when pulling rocks out of the creek
when my kids got married they got $2000 each (I’m tight) they could do what they liked with it . they also had a choice of money or gold my boy went for the gold and got his rings made he had plenty left over.

#10

I convinced a fella from Wanaka that he needed 15 grammes for a ring, was that to mkuch, shame on me :slight_smile:

#11

Depends on the size of the ring.

Yep, a 24k won’t wear away over a life time. The issue as kiwikeith said, is that it will wear thin enough that a slight knock/pressure will cause it to snap.

#12

In my early days of gold panning up St Arnaud and Reefton I was moving a lot of rocks and my 14ct gold band wore thin quite quickly. It was a standing joke that I was losing more gold than I was finding!!

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#13

I have often wondered that if we get a ring made do we really get OUR gold back. I was informed by a Jeweller in the Glenfield Mall on Aucklands Northshore that YES he could make a ring BUT it in order for it to be made of the gold I supplied it would be pure and not 9 or 18 carat as he could not do that. If I want to guarantee MY gold back then I will opt for the chap in Glenfield and accept a pure gold ring - yes I know it will be too soft BUT it would only be worn on special occasions.

Now Jewellers get their gold from Bullion Dealers - the same place that sensible investors in the know buy it from - and also those who want a quick profit on Trademe buy it from - eg Silver has gone up and today the Bullion Dealer I deal with will be charging + or - $850 per 1 kg Perth Mint Bullion Bar BUT the cheapest on Trademe today is $950 - $100 profit over todays Bullion Dealer cost.

In any case I so strongly suspect that in keeping with comments made by Jewellers to me over the years that many Jewellers will tell you that you require maybe 6 to 10 grams of your gold BUT in truth you may not get any of your gold back depending on who you are dealing with. Might they sell your gold to the bullion dealers/Assayers and in return buy in from the bullion dealer 9 or 18 carat bar gold already assayed OR a manufacturing jeweller may use scrap gold of known purity to make a new ring while keeping your gold or on selling it. Do all jewellers have the facilities to purify and alloy the gold accurately I wonder. These things need to be found out.

Have you ever thought that you supply 9 grams and the ring is made and weights, to be fair on the jeweller, 9 grams, then because it has had copper added there might only be 6 grams of ‘your’ gold there. That means that after ‘cleaning’ your gold (a few grains of sand, a speck of quartz) the jeweller has maybe 3 grams left over and thus the profit is all his - $200 to make the ring plus 3 grams gold left over after alloying…I should have been a Jeweller.

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#14

you should have been an accountant. lol