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Saw it in Karachi last year: a street containing exclusively gold workshops was blocked for traffic Sunday morning, guarded officially by the police, while the

Saw it in Karachi last year: a street containing exclusively gold workshops was blocked for traffic Sunday morning, guarded officially by the police, while the staff hired by the co-op swept every inch. Apparently this is a weekly routine.

notJim 2y ago
Reminds me of the stories of people in NYC's diamond district making their living by looking for dropped gemstones and tiny bits of gold. https://nypost.com/2011/06/20/got-his-mined-in-the-gutter/ https://nypost.com/2011/06/20/got-his-mined-in-the-gutter/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfrqUNFtM6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfrqUNFtM6A
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  I'm wondering how these gemstones even make their way on the street. Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work? Is it from crappy stone settings falling off immediately on leaving the stores? Seems so strange to me how such a valuable product ends up dispersed in the environment like this.
  - mtnGoat 2y ago
    Some jewelers are dealing with things of great enough value that some gold dust or small stones doesn’t matter. Most jewelry value is not in the gold or gems, it’s in the eye of the beholder so to speak. So losing the actual ring is a much bigger loss than the gold/gem value. However, a guy on the street that isn’t dealing in six figure goods, places great value in that small gold amount. Most people would be amazed at how little, when not in a shop under bright lights, jewelry is actually worth. Let’s just say they aren’t selling gold, they are selling emotions and hype. And many customers get extremely angry when they go to resell and find out how little it’s worth. You’ll be lucky to get a tenth of what you paid for the stones. Source; my wife ran the biggest gold buying store in northern LA county for a few years.
    - eru 2y ago
      Yes, but any savings go straight to the bottom line.
      - goldinquiry1 2y ago
        Right – if spot price per oz is $2,418.95 and say hypothetically I am sourcing it for $1700/oz there seems to be a reasonable amount of margin there if you can find a buyer for it.
        fbdab103 2y ago
        It is a global market, why in the day of the internet, would someone cut you a 30% margin? There might be some hassle crossing international borders, but gold is not generally illegal where there is an outsized risk in moving it.
        mtnGoat 2y ago
        The margins mentioned are about in line with most “gold buyers” that have store fronts. 70% of spot is a decent starting point for “salvage” gold. If it’s in any form but rounds or bars, it’ll need to be melted down which has a cost. So it can be made into a form that can be resold closer to spot value. The margin are actually even better if you melt them down. it’s really hard to buy physical gold at spot, single ounces/grams go for a few points higher.
        owenmarshall 2y ago
        Anyone offering a discount of over 2500 basis points to participate in what might be one of the most accessible markets across the world isn’t offering actual value, they’ve just found a good mark.
    - bruce511 2y ago
      I second this, jewelry has very little value on the 2nd hand market. Gold, Silver etc have a daily published value, and you can expect a number close to that (allowing for margin). But "precious stones" are really not all that precious, or rare. When selling (to a dealer) you discover the margins they make- often upwards of 90% (as my father discovered selling jewelry he inherited.) To be fair, crafting takes significant labor and most old jewelry has to be melted down and recrafted. None of this negates the significance of one person giving another jewelry. That adds substantial sentimental value which is what makes them valuable at all. (It does make me smile though when movies use uncut diamonds as some sort of compact currency...)
  - BobAliceInATree 2y ago
    Rubies for watches are synthetic and super cheap. And the small diamonds are still pretty cheap. He said about $100 per carat of small diamonds. It's not surprising that they're more casual with this inventory.
  - cyberax 2y ago
    > Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work? Boots, not clothes. Diamonds are so sharp that they easily get lodged in rubber soles. And then fall out when you walk.
    - michaelt 2y ago
      Grocery store cashiers and bank clerks often don't get to leave until they've accounted for every cent that should be in their till. One would think diamond merchants would take the time to be equally careful, if not moreso.
      - BobAliceInATree 2y ago
        Most of these businesses in the district are tiny, family-owned businesses, so there's a huge amount of implicit trust there. But also, these tiny stones really aren't worth much. What you're asking is like Home Depot making sure to account for every single nut & bolt so none are stolen or lost. It would cost far more in time & labor then what you'd get back in return.
  - gowld 2y ago
    It's not such a valuable product. It only supports one low-paying full-time job, and who knows how long before the streets have been cleaned out of past accumulation. > Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling $819 on 47th Street.
- jaggederest 2y ago
  There's a Cody's Lab video where they refine highway dust for platinum group metals leaking from catalytic converters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg
- ainonsense44 2y ago
  That video is a guy selling a dream, to sell his own products to the viewer, who believe in the legitimacy of the findings shown in the video. I call marketing stunt. Most unlikely not a truthful representation of what to expect when doing it yourself.

notJim 2y ago

Reminds me of the stories of people in NYC's diamond district making their living by looking for dropped gemstones and tiny bits of gold. https://nypost.com/2011/06/20/got-his-mined-in-the-gutter/ https://nypost.com/2011/06/20/got-his-mined-in-the-gutter/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfrqUNFtM6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfrqUNFtM6A

kjkjadksj 2y ago
I'm wondering how these gemstones even make their way on the street. Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work? Is it from crappy stone settings falling off immediately on leaving the stores? Seems so strange to me how such a valuable product ends up dispersed in the environment like this.
- mtnGoat 2y ago
  Some jewelers are dealing with things of great enough value that some gold dust or small stones doesn’t matter. Most jewelry value is not in the gold or gems, it’s in the eye of the beholder so to speak. So losing the actual ring is a much bigger loss than the gold/gem value. However, a guy on the street that isn’t dealing in six figure goods, places great value in that small gold amount. Most people would be amazed at how little, when not in a shop under bright lights, jewelry is actually worth. Let’s just say they aren’t selling gold, they are selling emotions and hype. And many customers get extremely angry when they go to resell and find out how little it’s worth. You’ll be lucky to get a tenth of what you paid for the stones. Source; my wife ran the biggest gold buying store in northern LA county for a few years.
  - eru 2y ago
    Yes, but any savings go straight to the bottom line.
    - goldinquiry1 2y ago
      Right – if spot price per oz is $2,418.95 and say hypothetically I am sourcing it for $1700/oz there seems to be a reasonable amount of margin there if you can find a buyer for it.
      - fbdab103 2y ago
        It is a global market, why in the day of the internet, would someone cut you a 30% margin? There might be some hassle crossing international borders, but gold is not generally illegal where there is an outsized risk in moving it.
        mtnGoat 2y ago
        The margins mentioned are about in line with most “gold buyers” that have store fronts. 70% of spot is a decent starting point for “salvage” gold. If it’s in any form but rounds or bars, it’ll need to be melted down which has a cost. So it can be made into a form that can be resold closer to spot value. The margin are actually even better if you melt them down. it’s really hard to buy physical gold at spot, single ounces/grams go for a few points higher.
      - owenmarshall 2y ago
        Anyone offering a discount of over 2500 basis points to participate in what might be one of the most accessible markets across the world isn’t offering actual value, they’ve just found a good mark.
  - bruce511 2y ago
    I second this, jewelry has very little value on the 2nd hand market. Gold, Silver etc have a daily published value, and you can expect a number close to that (allowing for margin). But "precious stones" are really not all that precious, or rare. When selling (to a dealer) you discover the margins they make- often upwards of 90% (as my father discovered selling jewelry he inherited.) To be fair, crafting takes significant labor and most old jewelry has to be melted down and recrafted. None of this negates the significance of one person giving another jewelry. That adds substantial sentimental value which is what makes them valuable at all. (It does make me smile though when movies use uncut diamonds as some sort of compact currency...)
- BobAliceInATree 2y ago
  Rubies for watches are synthetic and super cheap. And the small diamonds are still pretty cheap. He said about $100 per carat of small diamonds. It's not surprising that they're more casual with this inventory.
- cyberax 2y ago
  > Are jewelry workshops really so messy and flippant with this product that it presumably gets caught up on people and just falls off their clothes when they leave from work? Boots, not clothes. Diamonds are so sharp that they easily get lodged in rubber soles. And then fall out when you walk.
  - michaelt 2y ago
    Grocery store cashiers and bank clerks often don't get to leave until they've accounted for every cent that should be in their till. One would think diamond merchants would take the time to be equally careful, if not moreso.
    - BobAliceInATree 2y ago
      Most of these businesses in the district are tiny, family-owned businesses, so there's a huge amount of implicit trust there. But also, these tiny stones really aren't worth much. What you're asking is like Home Depot making sure to account for every single nut & bolt so none are stolen or lost. It would cost far more in time & labor then what you'd get back in return.
- gowld 2y ago
  It's not such a valuable product. It only supports one low-paying full-time job, and who knows how long before the streets have been cleaned out of past accumulation. > Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling $819 on 47th Street.
jaggederest 2y ago
There's a Cody's Lab video where they refine highway dust for platinum group metals leaking from catalytic converters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg
ainonsense44 2y ago
That video is a guy selling a dream, to sell his own products to the viewer, who believe in the legitimacy of the findings shown in the video. I call marketing stunt. Most unlikely not a truthful representation of what to expect when doing it yourself.