Can this be sold and where/how....?

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aardvark said:
its possible. if he worked in the scientific area he could have easily come across large amounts of pure platinum - 50 years ago platinum was very very cheap compared to now and was used in large amounts all the time (electrodes, wire, crucibles etc...)
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Even 50years ago it was still insanely rare, only 200 tons are manufactored for the whole planet each year. I get what your saying, but in a realistic world id say it obvious to assume that whatever industry he was working it was using it to plate or buying plated metals for use as parts, and he has the scraps.

If I've made a very heavy assumption and I'm wrong, (which I doubt) you are looking at a lot of money, Cut it and see, or show use a photo.
 
ChroniC said:
Even 50years ago it was still insanely rare, only 200 tons are manufactored for the whole planet each year. I get what your saying, but in a realistic world id say it obvious to assume that whatever industry he was working it was using it to plate or buying plated metals for use as parts, and he has the scraps.

If I've made a very heavy assumption and I'm wrong, (which I doubt) you are looking at a lot of money, Cut it and see, or show use a photo.
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Also going with this, if so little is produced each year I'm sure there would have been more security on how it is given out and find it hard to believe he would have a large amount hidden away somewhere without his or someone else's knowledge
 
Platinum has only become a critical metal in the last few years. Just because it's scarce doesn't mean it used to be worth much when didn't have many uses, which platinum didn't used to.

Game on if it turns out to be the real deal :)

Now is a good time to hoard some rare earths and other PGMs by the way :p
 
ChroniC said:
Even 50years ago it was still insanely rare, only 200 tons are manufactored for the whole planet each year. .
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Although I do doubt it is pure platinum as well, it's not quite as rare as you make out. Although 10 tonnes of ore is needed for each gram of platinum there is only 1800 tonnes of gold mined each year so platninum is around 11% of the quantity of gold produced each year.

Secondly it is insanely heavy, being 60% heavier than gold so you don;t need much in a tin for 500g.

Most platinum is used in industrial applications with the greatest use been catalytic convertors. I know for example where they keep up to £8 million of platinum stored at any one time.

Whose to say the OP's grandfather didn;t used to work in some industrial process and used to steal offcuts?

The really daft thing is that scrap platinum from all those online companies is worth no more than scrap gold (about £28 to £29 per gram)

In fact with the record gold price, gold is almost worth as much new as platinum
 
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Talk to a jewellers and see what they would be willing to do guide price wise.

It is not enough for a big company like Johnson Matthey or anyone else to deal with you actually runs there own industrial refinery operation.
 
My Grandad used to be a scientist and in his lab they used platinum crucibles in furnaces. Over time they would buckle and become brittle etc. The lab became decomissioned and everything was to be chucked away. He kept some of the platinum which was pretty much scrap pieces and old crucibles mashed together. He had forgotten all about it and didn't realise the true value of it until now.

If it is really platinum i have seen crucibles of the same size for £6,000 brand new!!!
 
Shep_Cobain said:
My Grandad used to be a scientist and in his lab they used platinum crucibles in furnaces. Over time they would buckle and become brittle etc. The lab became decomissioned and everything was to be chucked away. He kept some of the platinum which was pretty much scrap pieces and old crucibles mashed together. He had forgotten all about it and didn't realise the true value of it until now.

If it is really platinum i have seen crucibles of the same size for £6,000 brand new!!!
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Well scrap value is about £29 per gram so if you do indeed have 1000g then say hello to half of £29,000!

Of course once your Grandpa knows it;s that much and not a few hundred quid he might not go halves with you anymore ;)
 
ChroniC said:
Even 50years ago it was still insanely rare, only 200 tons are manufactored for the whole planet each year. I get what your saying, but in a realistic world id say it obvious to assume that whatever industry he was working it was using it to plate or buying plated metals for use as parts, and he has the scraps.

If I've made a very heavy assumption and I'm wrong, (which I doubt) you are looking at a lot of money, Cut it and see, or show use a photo.
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but at some point it has to be in a 99.99% pure block before it's plated on to something.

but i'm pretty sure they're relatively strict on people smuggling out the scraps from that stuff.
 
I was helping to clear out my recently passed Granddad's attic a few months ago. The most interesting things I found were old dried up paint tin, spiders and a lung full of dust. Oh, and a bad back. Bah.
 
Shep_Cobain said:
My Grandad used to be a scientist and in his lab they used platinum crucibles in furnaces. Over time they would buckle and become brittle etc. The lab became decomissioned and everything was to be chucked away. He kept some of the platinum which was pretty much scrap pieces and old crucibles mashed together. He had forgotten all about it and didn't realise the true value of it until now.

If it is really platinum i have seen crucibles of the same size for £6,000 brand new!!!
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then you have a LOT of valuable platinum there.

i would ring goldline - they mint their own bars and will buy it at a good price.
 
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