Crafting For Cash

If you like to make a hobby out of something that can garner you a little cash in your pocket, searching out hidden treasure in the form of scrap gold can definitely be a whole lot of fun. From old electronics to vintage awards medals and trophies, you may even be a bit surprised where some of the gold you're seeking shows up. you can actually turn a nice profit just by seeking out these items, doing a bit of dismantling, and then taking the gold scrap to a company that will buy gold. To make the best of your treasure hunting activities, here is a quick list of places around town you should be looking for hidden scrap gold. 

Consignment Shops

Consignment shops have a really smart business model; they accept items from regular people and just use the storefront to sell those items and split the profits with the owner of said merchandise. These places take in a little bit of everything most of the time, from old furniture to clothing. Consignment shops can be a really good place to find things like older model computers, television sets, and even trophies and other items that often contain gold inside. 

Junk Yard 

This one probably sounds a little offbeat for treasure hunting especially for gold, but never fear! Gold can even be found here if you know what you're doing. Some car parts contain precious metals that can be pulled out and sold for cash, even gold. A few parts to look for that could contain gold components include:

• circuit boards of electronic systems
• car stereos and audio systems
• powertrain control modules
• transmission control modules 
• aftermarket body and interior parts, such as gear shift handles and door latches

It is also true that some airbag systems contain small amounts of gold, but because airbags can be incredibly dangerous to remove, this is one area you will probably want to skip so you don't get hurt in the process. 

Metal Recycling Centers 

For the most part, when something made of various types of metals is taken to a metal recycling center, the person bringing in the metal is paid according to the weight of the whole item and not necessarily by the weight of each individual metal type inside. Many metal recycling centers send these multi-metal pieces on to a larger recycling center where the piece is disassembled and recycled. However, some items do contain gold in small amounts hidden inside. You can stop in at a metal recycling center and buy back some larger pieces that have been paid according to weight, disassemble the item and harvest the gold, and then resell the item back to the recycling center.