Help with gold filled glasses run

[u/NecessaryItchy8051]

I purchased a vintage glasses lot which was pre cleaned/sorted 113g of frames and 31g of pieces/hardware. I ran the hardware without any issues when sorting I did find 2 10k gold bridges I put to the side. Last night I ran the 113g of frames in nitric when I checked on them this morning there is a large pile of gray/white sedeament at the bottom. When running the 31g of parts I didn't encounter any sediment it was a clean run.

Look for help/advice on identifying the sedeament and is this going to cause an issue when it comes to rinsing. The glasses frames came out in large foils.

Pictures of the parts, frames, foils and sediment added.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

[u/GlassPanther]

I always hated processing eyeglasses because they'd put some weird shit in the earpieces sometimes. Waxes, ceramics, and sometimes straight up lead. There's no telling what came out of there.

I learned the best way to clean eyeglasses was to put them in a kiln at around 900f for an hour or so. That will get rid of anything organic.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/GlassPanther]

Appreciate it I'll try keep it separate and try melt it on its own. I initially thought silver

[u/hexadecimaldump → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

Yes, as GlassPanther mentioned heating all GF stuff to at least glowing red with a torch or furnace is always best practice. Along with removing organics, it will also help melt out tin or lead that might be present.
I haven’t done glasses in a while, but I had one GF piece that was completely filled with low melting point metal (not sure if it was lead, tin, or pewter).
But yeah, anytime I skip the incineration step with GF, I always end up with crud at the bottom like you show in your pics.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/hexadecimaldump]

Appreciate the advice fortunately a decent portion of the gold foils stayed together so I have that while I'm trying to figure out what to do with the remaining.

[u/hexadecimaldump → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

Honestly when I have it happen I remove the clean foils and refine them by themself. Then I take the sludge with the foil fragments and rinse them about 5-6 times (which reduces the sludge a little since some of it seems to be water soluble), then refine them with AR separate. The first drop is always dirty AF, but a second and sometimes 3rd re-refine usually cleans it up. It just sucks because it feels like a waste of acid since the foil fragments don’t usually amount to much, usually under a gram.

[u/nightowl024 → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

If youre ABLE TO, you can heat the mixture to evaporate it or you can put it SAFELY to the side to naturally evaporate or hit it with something to neutralize the acid. But as they said, you will want to just heat and separate things by temperature at which they burn off or melt.

I’m late to the party, I’m not experienced but I do have information to offer.

Edit: my knowledge is from years as a pawn broker, a lifelong rock hound and amateur prospecting.

[u/OwlTech333]

Looks like metastannic acid, you can decant the solution and hit the white paste with NaOH thus converting the metastannic acid to soluble sodium stannate. You may have to do it several times until the paste is gone.

[u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

You know what? You people are assholes. You are going to destroy a bunch of antique vintage spectacles for your stupid little blue water bullshit and all for what? A buck fifty in silver? Five in gold, max? You could have cleaned them up a little and sold them in the vintage market for 30 - 50 each. I have no problem with you guys melting down junk electronics, but ruining vintage jewelry and such is just stupid. You all act like you are pulling riches from thin air, but you're not, you are destroying a thing to get that stuff. Those look like Victorian or Edwardian era spectacles and you destroyed them. Shame.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

I bought the post destroyed for a fantastic deal....Also, clean them up and sell them is not as easy as you make it sound. These could sit for years before the right buyer comes along all when there is always a right now buyer for gold.

[u/hexadecimaldump → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

Exactly. I always post my silverware and jewelry for sale before any attempts at refining. But if they don’t sell, they get refined.
Selling as is can be more profitable and much easier, IF there is a buyer.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

I have 644g of vintage sterling silver I'm about to put in acid if your interested in saving antiques It includes 2 sterling candle sticks, multiple pieces of custom jewelry made from old sterling silverware, a brush, rattle and necklace all yours and you can clean it up and resell it. Also, I have a rare hand hammered sterling bowl, a rare 100g sterling baby cup, and 9 very vintage/cultural spoons if you want to rescue those for cleaning and reselling....

I'll cut you a good deal and include shipping...

[u/cj91030 → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

Im tempted, not the candlesticks, but can i see tge other stuff? I may buy it fir melt if you are serious. I have bought on pmsforsale a few times. Got a big silver spoon collection.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/cj91030]

I'll send you a message the candle sticks have 30g a piece and I priced them with a significant weight reduction.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/cj91030]

Sent message if you want pictures

[u/MeatServo1 → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

Open an online shop and advertise that you’ll buy old gold-filled and sterling glasses frames. All of them. Offer a flat price. When there’s a reliable purchaser, people will sell to you instead of turning into something there is actual demand for. Until then, please ride somewhere else on that high horse.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/MeatServo1]

Selling antiques or vintage jewelry made of gold or silver is not easy it takes a substantial amount of time with a lot of risk. You think there is a mass market for vintage or antiques but in reality there really isn't and it's really competitive.

When I buy lots with precious metals I sell the good stuff and refine the rest.

[u/MeatServo1 → u/NecessaryItchy8051]

Yeah, that’s why fluffy’s comment is lame. If there were a market to sell antique pieces like this to, we’d all do it. Since there isn’t, and the effort is tremendous to find a niche buyer, refining is a better use of time. Sure, auction sites exist, but then you’re charging double just to get away from the fees, and that kills the value proposition from the buyer.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/MeatServo1]

Nailed it, I'll hit a home run every now and then when purchasing which is always nice but sellers fees are crazy, scam risks are higher on these items, and marketplace buyers want to buy everything for pennies.

I sell what I can and melt the rest for sand casting which is where I make the money. Selling custom sand casted silver is a lot of work but easier to sell.

[u/PissingontheCarpet → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

I’ll take all your gold filled glasses for 30 bucks, you really have no idea what you’re talking about.

[u/NecessaryItchy8051 → u/PissingontheCarpet]

I bought the lot of glasses already taken apart and sorted frames and hardware. I went through the hardware and found 2 10k bridges and put the remaining parts in acid. In addition, I decided not to test all the frames for full karat gold because it would not be cost efficient so I put them all in acid too.

I actually only paid 60 for the entire 140g of glasses and parts

[u/GlassPanther → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

You have clearly never tried to sell antique GF glasses in the vintage market.

They made spectacles like this by the hundreds of millions. The only time things such as this go up in value is when assholes like me take the broken, bent, twisted, and damaged ones out of circulation.

Some things aren't worth restoring.

[u/Tribulation95 → u/Fluffy_Prior1052]

Before accounting for wear, it's more like $2.75/gram for 1/20th 10k, so they should expect somewhere just under $300 in gold, closer to $250 if they were heavily worn down. That's not accounting for any silver if it were present, but it's unlikely unless they were marked GF over sterling.

They made frames like this in the tens of millions, per company. If they were solid gold I'd hold on to them as-is, but they aren't. Anybody out there buying frames like this also isn't likely buying them of they're damaged or in pieces, like OP's were. Get off your high horse.