The Gold & Silver Buyer's Handbook by Raffi Katz

{Summary}
The Gold and Silver Buyer's Handbook

Author: Raffi Katz

Format: softback, 184 pages

Edition: 2010 (revised 2011)

Publisher: Quicktest

ISBN: 978-0-9512095-3-0

Also available as a download from Amazon, Click here


Are you a buyer for a chain of stores? Do you think your staff would benefit from this book? If (online) you order 10 you will automatically be charged £11.00 each; if you order 50 you will automatically be charged £8.50 each.

{Contents}
Part One: Gold and Silver

Purity, Types of Gold, Not Gold, Hallmarking, Testing, Formulae for Calculating Gold Prices, Weights, Gold and Money, Weights and Weighing, Weighing Machines, Valuations, Cleaning and Polishing.

Part Two: Buying and Selling

Where to Sell and How Much to Expect, Jewellers and Scrap Dealers in Person, The All-Purpose High Street Secondhand / Loans Shop, Scrap by Mail and from the Internet, Trade Buyers of Scrap and Bullion, eBay, The Internet, Selling from a Website, Knockers, Travellers & Road Shows, Silver, A Word about Style, Scrap Values, Items Worth More than Scrap, Selling Tips, Buying from Retail Shops, Junk Shops, Antiques Shops, Pawnbrokers, The All-Purpose High Street Secondhand / Loans Shops, Jumble Sales, Garage Sales & Boot Sales, Antiques Fairs & Markets, Mail Order, Auctions, Buying Tips.

BUYING AND SELLING FOR PROFIT: Part Time. Full Time: New Goods, Full Time: Secondhand or Antique Goods, Tips: The Art of Haggling, Avoid Buying Stolen Goods, Registration for Dealing in Secondhand Goods, Internet Auctions and Online Shops, Creating (and selling from) a Website, Taking Money (payment methods), Buying and Selling Bullion, Tax, Futures Trading, Gold Leasing, Price Fluctuations.

Part Three: Useful Information and Fascinating Facts

Foreign Dates & Names on Coins, Pre-Decimal System, Counting Coins by Weight, Rare Coin Dates, Better-than-Gold Bullion Coins, Weights and Purities Charts, Commemorative Medallions, Hallmark Date Letters, Matching Designs on Cutlery, Designs of Chains, More about Paper Money and Gold Money, Calibrating Weighing Machines, About Testing Acids, Gemstones and Gem Testers, Testing and Buying Diamonds, Rates Survey, Birthstones, Useful Contacts, PPS for Credit Cards, Conversions.

{What Raffi Says}
The book started when I worked at a jewellery shop specialising in scrap and bullion. From the very first day, I started making lists and charts: details of how to calculate scrap prices quickly, lists of coins and medallions, notes about how I had mistaken non gold items for gold.

This new edition contains the latest hallmark charts (including international marks), reviews of gold testers, and the latest information about trading in secondhand goods, weights & measures, and selling on the internet. Also: how to clean silver using a simple chemical reaction; how to check a weighing machine; advice about handling testing acids; details of the best places to sell gold and how much money to expect; how to buy and sell for profit.

{Reviews}
A very useful and comprehensive reference tool for anyone involved in buying, selling or trading...
Marie Brennan, The Birmingham Assay Office

I think it's great that someone has picked up all those eclectic bits of information that have taken years to accrue and wrapped them into one small but perfectly formed package, it will save a lot of beginners a lot of time...covering what appears to be just about everything that is in this book.
Dave Merry, Head of Assay Office Training, The London Assay Office

A good reference, it answers the questions that an aspiring gold dealer would want to ask, very simple straight forward language...a must-buy for both the novice and the serious dealer.
Michael Bloomstein, Bullion Dealer

A really fascinating book. I am doing the JET 1 course and am using the book as a reference guide, I have read the book twice and have already used it in a few assignments. Very informative...brilliant!
Rebecca T. Student

A mine of useful information for the experienced or indeed the novice serious about dealing in precious metals...once I started reading this book I just could not put it down.
Michael Murphy, Baird & Co.

A must-read for all those who buy or sell gold or silver. The amount of information in this book is staggering, answers...all the questions you may have on buying Gold and Silver plus much more.
Cookson Precious Metals

I would describe this book as the Jeweller's Bible. All the information you need on testing and weighing gold...in an easily understood and detailed guide.
Bridget, Lynco

See the full (un-edited!) version of these reviews,click here.