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How do you value gold nuggets? Equation used?

I think gold nuggets are cool, but I have no idea how to compute the value of an item. Is there an accepted equation to value nuggets? Of course, what is that equation? Thank you.

"You keep your 1804 dollar and 1822 half eagle -- give me rainbow roosies in MS68."
rainbowroosie April 1, 2003

Comments

  • rte592rte592 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 23, 2019 12:06AM

    NATURAL gold nuggets range from 18-22 karat usually.
    You can do the math once you get the weight of the nugget.

    Natural gold nuggets usually bring more then spot for the cool factor alone.
    Bigger natural nuggets usually have a premium because they are harder to find.

    My guestimation is around $40 a gram then add for the extras.

  • bronco2078bronco2078 Posts: 9,964 ✭✭✭✭✭

    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have a couple of nice one's I found... 6 and 7 grams...Cost me nothing, had fun and still enjoy them... Cheers, RickO

  • rawteam1rawteam1 Posts: 2,472 ✭✭✭

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Your wisdom is quite refreshing,
    Merry Christmas...

    keceph `anah
  • rte592rte592 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 23, 2019 9:16PM

    @rawteam1 said:

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Your wisdom is quite refreshing,
    Merry Christmas...

    If your looking out the window from the otherside?
    You buy low sell higher like other things, what different does it make?
    You have to be knowledgeable about what your buying...
    I just saw a 19+ gram nugget sell for $38 an GRAM that should fetch closer to $50 an GRAM.
    Someone will make money on that piece.
    Like anything you make your money when you buy it right.

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 45,301 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @rte592 said:

    @rawteam1 said:

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Your wisdom is quite refreshing,
    Merry Christmas...

    If your looking they the window from the otherside?
    You buy low seller higher like other things, what different does it make?
    You have to know what your buying...
    I just saw a 19+ gram nugget sell for $38 an ounce that should fetch closer to $50 an ounce.
    Someone will make money on that piece.
    Like anything you make your money when you buy it right.

    Did you mean ounce or should it have been gram?

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.

  • KliaoKliao Posts: 5,445 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Not unless your buying it under spot

    Young Numismatist/collector
    75 Positive BST transactions buying and selling with 45 members and counting!
    instagram.com/klnumismatics

  • bronco2078bronco2078 Posts: 9,964 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Kliao said:

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Not unless your buying it under spot

    If you own a store maybe you have the leverage to do that , in which case fine. Otherwise you are talking about overpaying for an item that will not be easy to sell later.

    Thats the sort of transaction a stacker should be avoiding

  • bronco2078bronco2078 Posts: 9,964 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @rawteam1 said:

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Your wisdom is quite refreshing,
    Merry Christmas...

    merry christmas , stop in more often

  • USMC_6115USMC_6115 Posts: 2,951 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I bought a nice 26 gram Australian Gold Nugget back in early 2000 for a couple hundred bucks.. I am sure it would sell higher now.. It would be interesting to hear others /gram estimation on them

  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Kind of like old poured bars..

    Is it rare and neat looking?

    Then double or triple melt, maybe more.

    Small and ugly nugs are boring and are closer to common bullion

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • rte592rte592 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 23, 2019 9:17PM

    @PerryHall said:

    @rte592 said:

    @rawteam1 said:

    @bronco2078 said:
    nuggets are only for selling , if you are thinking about buying one you already lost the negotiation

    Your wisdom is quite refreshing,
    Merry Christmas...

    If your looking they the window from the otherside?
    You buy low seller higher like other things, what different does it make?
    You have to know what your buying...
    I just saw a 19+ gram nugget sell for $38 an ounce that should fetch closer to $50 an ounce.
    Someone will make money on that piece.
    Like anything you make your money when you buy it right.

    Did you mean ounce or should it have been gram?

    Yes GRAM.
    I blame spell check :)
    Thanks I fixed it.

  • rte592rte592 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 23, 2019 9:27PM

    @Baley said:
    Kind of like old poured bars..

    Is it rare and neat looking?

    Then double or triple melt, maybe more.

    Small and ugly nugs are boring and are closer to common bullion

    Yup, just like old pours the cool factor helps add perceived value over spot.

  • USMC_6115USMC_6115 Posts: 2,951 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 23, 2019 9:59PM

    Nothing like @KollectorKing - WOW!

    But if we're showing here's mine: 26 grams from Australia<--- opinions welcome :)





  • metalmeistermetalmeister Posts: 4,584 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @massscrew said:
    Nothing like @KollectorKing - WOW!

    But if we're showing here's mine: 26 grams<--- opinions welcome :)





    Where was it discovered? California? Alaska?

    email: ccacollectibles@yahoo.com

    100% Positive BST transactions
  • USMC_6115USMC_6115 Posts: 2,951 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oh I'll edit that ... Australia

  • rainbowroosierainbowroosie Posts: 4,874 ✭✭✭✭

    Thanks for all the comments. If I read the above correctly, assuming I’m a buyer, $40 gram for a nice eye appealing piece wont bury me?

    "You keep your 1804 dollar and 1822 half eagle -- give me rainbow roosies in MS68."
    rainbowroosie April 1, 2003
  • rte592rte592 Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 25, 2019 11:29AM

    @rainbowroosie said:
    Thanks for all the comments. If I read the above correctly, assuming I’m a buyer, $40 gram for a nice eye appealing piece wont bury me?

    Assuming that your buying with extra money?
    IE, All other things that are eating up your income are covered.
    $40/gram for a nice natural 18/22kt nugget (no quartz rocks) figured in the weght of the nugget isn't bad in my opinion.

    In the end, its it's your hard earned money (so your call)

    Here is a site to calculate current price per weight.
    https://www.silverrecyclers.com/Calculators/gold_calculator.aspx

  • WildIdeaWildIdea Posts: 1,873 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 25, 2019 4:03PM

    To me, there is nothing like a natural gold nugget.

    I consider myself a Gold Bug and that to me means I cannot resist and have a weak spot for gold in any form and voracious interest to learn about the entire topic, but ultimately afflicted by a unexplainable, unknowing possession of a romantic and emotional connection to the yellow metal, i.e., The Germ....Exposed to the Germ or bug from which there is no known cure.

    Sure, I like to stack some weight gold and I can fixate strictly on the spot price when considering that. Maybe even try to study the spot and financial market fluctuations and influencers to divine clairvoyance enough to time a sale on the upswing. Still, Stacker gold is still cool but the best play for that, IMO is to be a flipper. Buying back of spot and selling over as many times as possible without actually holding for very long. Stacking cash actually, if that's what your really truly into.

    My last nugget purchase. 5ozer


    On a sidebar, years ago, I had a client mention to me in a session that he had spent 25K on a gold and diamond engagement ring and the woman didn't accept his marriage proposal. Heartbroken, he sad he felt like just giving it away to a random person in public...I said hold on now man, wait a second. Together, went to my trusted B&M and I connected them. My dealer made him an offer he was happy with and my dealer thanked me by letting me buy as much weight as I wanted at his buy price for about a year. Back then I was trying to round out a bag of attractive circ Walkers and probably bought a few gold Eagles for 20 back of spot, but I didn't really go nuts. I like my weight to be old, collectable and have a WOW factor.

    Back in 09 to 2011 there was a lot of metal coming off the side line and getting sold locally. Not just broken jewelry and slicked out $20 double Liberty's, but some really neat stuff, like scarce bullion bars from Homestake and Engelhard, unique high grade ore specimens and nuggets. I tried to get into as much of those as I could. One day while standing in a B&M, a guy brought in a large local and regional ore specimen collection to sell and after he sold it I picked up three of the nicer ones (out of about 20 out so) that I can remember. Nuggets too. Neat ones that have some interesting textures and shaped you can cloud watch in as they turn in your hand. Earth Treasure. Not something melted and hammered down by man and mint. I came to the conclusion that anything under a certain mesh or small enough to get lost in carpet should probably get melted into a bar. Microscopic gold that gets hammered out of rock, leached in and out of solution and cast into .9999 bars is fine with me, but visible gold in native rock, well that's another story altogether.

    Tucson gem show Jan 2019. Round mtn box work gold. Best I’ve seen ....

    Anyone who thinks paying a premium for natural gold is crazy should take a stroll down a few isles at the Tucson gem show or Denver rock expo and get up to speed on the metal and mineral specimen collector market. It makes a pieces weight almost irrelevant. Unique crystalline and box work gold is something to behold beyond endless rows of duplicate gold disks at coin shows. I can't imagine how much of this stuff has been melted but it is a honor to own and protect and pass on to other people who cherish it and can see its real value. When the last big melting was happening, some of my best natural specimens were saved from the crucible at the last possible minute by our local smelter. Even he knew better than to melt some of this stuff and bought it out of the process lots to be saved and passed on again to the proper hands, hopefully forever saved from the one way street of the furnace.

    But I wouldn't rule out any form of gold. I love to mine it, study gold rush history and ore bodies, collect it and share it. I can stack it, sell it or finance a flip for a piece of the action, but I never turn my nose up to any of it. One just can't be lazy and instead simply put in the time to learn the particular rules dictating the trading of each type. I've seen a 5 gal bucket of gold fill be worth an oz or two. To poo poo any or turn ones nose up just shows ignorance. Love it or leave it, but if a killer gold nugget takes your breath away and leaves you gagging for words, then I say go for it. You don't have to worry about getting out alive when your living today to the fullest.

    In conclusion, on one end, you could build a stack of Maples, Eagles and Krugs all bought near spot as possible if that floats your boat, or you could have some of that AND a natural gold nugget, ore specimen, jar of pickers, classic gold coin, classic bullion bar, foreign gold tied to historic world event interest to name a few. Spice up the holding. The possibilities are limitless. Not just more weight, but more variety and ultimately more enjoyment and hopefully value not tied to the spot market. I apologize for the novel length post, happy holidays everyone.

  • rainbowroosierainbowroosie Posts: 4,874 ✭✭✭✭

    Thanks. I’m interested in the aesthetic appeal not trying to turn a quick profit...like many above the coolness factor intrigues me. But I don’t want to pay stupid money because I did no homework. 😉

    "You keep your 1804 dollar and 1822 half eagle -- give me rainbow roosies in MS68."
    rainbowroosie April 1, 2003
  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @bronco2078 said:

    @Kliao said:

    If you own a store maybe you have the leverage to do that , in which case fine. Otherwise you are talking about overpaying for an item that will not be easy to sell later.

    Thats the sort of transaction a stacker should be avoiding

    That's it in a nutshell. If you own a store you'll KNOW IMMEDIATELY when it is a premium nugget.
    There aren't many. Over an ounce and nice looking and they're in the game.
    Otherwise it's gold weight at about 18K unless it's from the Sierra foothills where it may run 60% fineness.
    If they're flat and shapely, you can sell them to jewelry fabricators.
    I wouldn't consider them IN ANY WAY an "investment" unless you can get it at spot or under.

    Certainly NOT for the stacker.

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