Stone removal

Weg

The wife and I agreed to sell a little of our PMs so I'll be selling some bullion coins and she just went through a bunch of old jewelry. We'd like to keep the stones from the jewelry so someday she may have something made using them. For the stones held by prongs it doesn't look like there'll be any problem removing them, but some of the smaller stones look like a challenge. There is a little metal over some cornors holding them in, for some it looks like a punch was used to move some metal over the stone. I'm even wondering if some type of epoxy is ever used.

Does anyone have some experience removing stones that can help?

Weiss

The guy who buys from the public and wholesales to my dealer uses...finger nail clippers. Seriously. He's hunched over the counter most days when I arrive, carefully clipping the prongs off of rings and bracelets. Looks like a good way to salvage the stones without hurting them. You clip off virtually no metal from the prongs. Since you're melting it anyway, your smelter will likely pay you for every tiny piece you clip off, too.

TexasNationals

I know what you are talking about, they drill a hole, insert the stone and push/bend a little metal over the whole stone. Easy ise a razor blade, an exacto would be best, lide betwen stone and metal and twist and the metal should come up/bend rotate and repeat until you can get the stone out.

Weg

I'd bet finger nail clippers would work well on the prongs. The ones without prongs are what has me thinking. I already have this image in mind of me working slow, carefully for an extended period of time then hearing tic tic; another 1/8th inch stone bounced somewhere on the floor. I'm a believer in having the right tool for the job; just do not know what the tool is for this one.
Edit: Tex, that sounds worth trying, I just bought two tubes of Exacto [sic] blades.

scrapman1077

I ship that kind of stuff to ARA in Texas, free stone removal and fast check for the gold scrap.

TexasNationals

Weg, that is how I remove my stones, just take your time and please don't cut yourself.

metalmeister

I would surely be bleeding all over those stones.

Weg

Oh boy, she just added this into the mix. I don't know if it's worth taking apart for scrap or if it's worth more whole. There's a lot more little stones; this place could look like a crime scene if I'm not carefull with the exacto.

PerryHall

Weg---That watch may be worth more as a watch than a scrap metal.

DESERTRODENT

I was a bench jeweler for a few years the type of setting you are refering to is bead setting or Gypsy set, most of the time you can just push the stones out from behind since they are drill set, if you cant get to the back of the stone you could use a flat engraver and just pust the metal off of the stone, by no means should they have any epoxy holding them in. If you find that they are glued in you might want to check and see if they are real gems or just synthetic. That watch if running could be more valueable than the metals, I would tell you to check the movement number on google then decide.

Weg

to check the movement number on google then decide.

Sorry, I do not clearly understand. I'm guessing you're saying to remove the backplate and perhaps I'll see a number stamped onto the body of the movement? If that is correct what should I be looking for on google? Thank you for advice.

DESERTRODENT

Hi the back of the watch will have a little lip use a butter knife or something dull and try to lift it off it should just pop open, then you can see the movement in the watch it will be stamped into the plate it should also tell you if the watch is Swiss made. Some of the older movements can be worth a few hundred dollars and up. once you get it you can then just press the back, back on and it should click so you know it is closed.

Weg

Thanks DES, I'll have to wait untill it's daylight tomorrow. Using 16X loop I can not see a lip or even a line seperating the backplate from the base. I've replaced watch batteries by popping the backplate several times before but have never seen one this tight. More light may help.

jsf

Man, you've got better eyes than me.

I'm going to have to take several diamond rings I have to my "trusted" jeweler to have the stones removed. My guess is the jeweler may help me decide which stones should be sent for GIA grading in case of possible resale? What on earth does one do with all those little, accent-sized diamonds? At some point they're not worth sending in, are they? Would you pay the jeweler in little diamonds? How does it usually work? Has your family looked into alternatives to keeping the stones or maybe consolidating/upgrading?

Weg

Those little accent-sized diamonds are a pain and really not worth the trouble; the jeweler charged $25 to replace one in something a few years ago, and that included his labor. My wife had the idea of saving the stones and maybe having something made. I agree with keeping the larger stones, but what it boils down to is I'm just a husband trying to keep his wife happy. She has watched me searching for how-to info and we've talked about it which is good, because now she is saying don't worry about the small ones.

I'll pluck the larger ones and work on the smaller until I'm tired of it. Then send the metal to Midwest.

TexasNationals

The jeweler I knows only pops them out and saves them for replacements for customers jewelry, they aren't worth much at all, it is just a pain for him to order a single.01 carat stone, so he keeps them around and only charges labor to put them in. He made me pull like 200 of those suckers out of some gold plated bling teeth, you know a hommies grill, what a pain in the .....

Tomohawk

Hi, Weg...FWIW: That backplate looks like it could have two possible ways to open it:

1. Top and bottom have a little separation from the case...might be a screw-type back that with a special tool twists open.
2. As was previously suggested, the top/bottom (heck or both) may have just enough separation to allow you to pry off the back.

Either way, nice watch! I would definitely think the sum is greater than its parts in this case.

ttown

That watch is worth a lot more than melt. Less than 5% of all watch cases ever made were gold. It's a high quality watch, I'd think twice. When you get it open post the information and I'll see what's it's worth. It looks like you should take a small jewelers screwdriver. There's a little slot at the 1 o'clock positions from the 14k stamp it appears to me, this won't be a screw back.

mrearlygold

Quite a watch. Too bad it's only 14K but still, it should not be broken up for scrap. No way. I know I would pay more for it if it were here.