Massive Gold Hoard! Felt like Mel Fisher today!

[UnderMiner]

So last night I was cruising around the city in my truck in the freezing cold. Picking up junk every now and then at the curbs. I scored two garbage bags full of old vinyls, some boxes of household junk and a nice Italian vase - then at this big apartment building someone was tossing out everything! This is not an uncommon sight as many of the apartments are owned by very old people who live alone. So I'm guessing someone died and everything was being tossed out. All the furniture, all the pots and pans, all the small trinkets - most in black garbage bags. I tossed ten or so of the bags into the truck and called it a night.

This morning it was too cold to leave the house, so it wasn't until around 1pm that I went out and began sorting through all the junk. To make a long story short - this was the motherload of trash finds. Besides netting me a bunch of really cool antiques I scored a big gold hoard! I have never found this much gold at once ever before. The hoard consists of one large 14K gold ring, one hefty 14k gold chain-link bracelet, and one massive 18K gold bracelet. Nearly a grand of gold by weight! Combined it all weighs 30.7 grams! Holy smokes! - Argh!

The hoard:


The 14K gold ring:


The massive 18K gold bracelet (Made by the Turkish gold smith "Atasay Kuyumculuk" - "AK"):


The 14K gold bracelet:


Wearing the gold:

 

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[CRUSADER]

It amazes me how dumb some people are that they throw away money.

 

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[pepperj]

Good score! It really shows on how disposable everything has become over these years.

 

[Canslaw]

Wow, you should branch out and just go straight to the dump! Imagine all the treasure!

 

[mangum]

Amazing score! I'm going to start keeping my eyes on the curbs!

 

[jewelerguy]

holy cow. it's crazy what people throw away. glad you found it before it ended up at the dump. dang, that's amazing

 

[UnderMiner]

Makes me wonder...
How much gold ends up in landfills every year.
Good save.

The statistics for gold are not very well documented but they are for silver. It is estimated that close to half of all the silver ever mined has been lost to intentional/unintentional disposal. If you scroll to the bottom of this webpage you will see a visual diagram of "all the silver ever mined vs. all the silver ever lost": Silver - Visualized in Bullion Bars

 

[Msbeepbeep]

That is a phenomenal gold haul!!!
Good for you! You were willing to take the time and collect and sort thru it, and were rewarded! Just awesome!
Congrats! The 18K is really nice!

 

[huntsman53]

Beautifully crafted golden jewelry - Congrats! If you decide to sell it, you may earn even more by selling it as jewelry instead of to the refinery. Andi

I agree!


Frank

 

[huntsman53]

Absolutely! With any older jewelry, it is always best to have it looked at by a jeweler for pricing before resorting to the spot price of the metal.

I agree! Never sell finely crafted Jewelry at melt prices or even slightly higher than spot. The pieces that the O.P. found took many long hours of labor to create and assemble, were expertly crafted and have great eye appeal to any prospective buyers. These along with their' Gold content value, should guarantee that they fetch premium prices.


Frank

 

[Ahab8]

Good score. It's actually illegal to do that here in the UK, you are not allowed to go through peoples trash.

SS

It is illegal in certain cities here in the states as well. There are local ordinances in place in many areas. I remember seeing a story about a couple of people in New York City I believe getting hefty fines for it. Don't believe I have neither the time nor patience to dig through people's trash but it can certainly be lucrative I'm sure

 

[dustyspurs]

Nice haul. Luck favors the person who is willing to put in the work.

 

[huntsman53]

It is illegal in certain cities here in the states as well. There are local ordinances in place in many areas. I remember seeing a story about a couple of people in New York City I believe getting hefty fines for it. Don't believe I have neither the time nor patience to dig through people's trash but it can certainly be lucrative I'm sure

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that there are no ordinances against doing this across much of Tennessee. You see folks going through bags and items thrown out to the curb or roadside all the time. While some folks can score some decent items and useable or repairable furniture, a lot of the items are just trash and the City, County or Contract workers that have to pick the stuff up, are very willing to let others remove the stuff for them.


Frank

 

[Ahab8]

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that there are no ordinances against doing this across much of Tennessee. You see folks going through bags and items thrown out to the curb or roadside all the time. While some folks can score some decent items and useable or repairable furniture, a lot of the items are just trash and the City, County or Contract workers that have to pick the stuff up, are very willing to let others remove the stuff for them.


Frank

Yeah I can well imagine. I'm sure the big issue is concerns over people getting others personal info and having identity theft issues and such. That's the only reason I could think of that they would have issues with it

 

[UnderMiner]

It is illegal in certain cities here in the states as well. There are local ordinances in place in many areas. I remember seeing a story about a couple of people in New York City I believe getting hefty fines for it. Don't believe I have neither the time nor patience to dig through people's trash but it can certainly be lucrative I'm sure

It's not trash, it's all treasure - bags and boxes of treasure!
It's very easy to tell the difference between a bag of treasure vs. a bag of common garbage.
Also the sanitation department is full of my friends who support my endeavors

 

[Ahab8]

It's not trash, it's all treasure - bags and boxes of treasure!
It's very easy to tell the difference between a bag of treasure vs. a bag of common garbage.
Also the sanitation department is full of my friends who support my endeavors

Hey I think it's great that these items aren't going to the landfill. It's a real shame to think about how much goes to waste. My buddy was just telling me how much precious metal such as gold and silver ends up in the sewers. There was a big article about it. I'll look for it

 

[UnderMiner]

Hey I think it's great that these items aren't going to the landfill. It's a real shame to think about how much goes to waste. My buddy was just telling me how much precious metal such as gold and silver ends up in the sewers. There was a big article about it. I'll look for it

I read that article too.
They said that there is alot of precious metal down there in the pipes but it would cost more than it's worth to create a method to recover it.
Still makes you think, how many diamonds and gold rings we have all come within a few inches of under our feet without knowing it.

 

[hunting deer]

Awesome find! Victoribus Spolia, Latin for "to the victor go the spoils".

 

[park pirate]

Dude what a find how could anyone be so stupid congrats man...

 

[txhawkeye2534]

Who ever put the trash at on the curb sure missed a great opportunity but their loss is definitely your gain. Great fine.

 

[Dig'em]

What a score! Dumpster diving is fun, it amazes me what people throw out. It will be hard to one up that one