Uncle George's Sister Bertha

[Ridgegrass]

If any of you saw the posts called "The Days before TV" you'll recognize my Great Uncle George. Anyway he had a sister named Bertha (Bertie) who was my Godmother. She died at 94 in 1995. Not to brag but she never married and she left me her estate, not millions but a nice chunk and all the family heirlooms, house etc. I was looking for George's draftings of his miniature steam engine in that post and came across a box of old dentures and partials in a box of broken jewelry etc. (They saved everything!) There were two partials with two or three porcelain teeth embedded in metal. I figured they had some good metal so today we hauled them off to a local jeweler. He couldn't identify the exact alloy so he called his "refiner" for help. They told him about a melt test and an acid treatment to identify the alloy. Turns out they were made from a high grade palladium alloy and I walked out with a check for $1,175 ! I'm glad the jeweler was honest, (he even let me listen to his consultations with the refiner}. I probably would have taken a whole lot less from a less honest person and never known any better.
I went and bought a Mega Millions ticket right away. Could be my lucky day !!

So, after 25 years gone to her reward, my Chucha (Polish nickname for aunt) Bertie is still giving me Christmas presents! Lucky me. DO NOT throw those old dental appliances away. My wife almost did. Merry Christmas J.O'.

[kootenay joe]

I have never hear of palladium. Was it less expensive back when it was used to make dentures ?
kj

[Ridgegrass]

KJ: Today's high price for palladium was posted at $2361.00 USD/ounce. Gold was $1860.00. Those dentures were made when gold was probably high twenties to thirties per ounce. If you google "dental metals" you can see the various alloys of gold, platinum, nickel, palladium, etc. and the various percentages in the mix. The tests the refiner suggested to the jeweler indicated a high palladium content. My bass player who is a retired dentist said those alloys are now gone in the trade, new steel alloys are among those that have taken their place.

Palladium (Pd, At.#46) makes the alloy very smooth and bright and resistant to biochemical corrosion. It is also the basis for the activity of automotive catalytic converters. That's why they're so expensive to replace and so often the target of thieves. I'm no authority, Wikipedia has all this info.

I was totally surprised at his offer! Anyway, I had a really good day. Joan and I laughed over and over at the thought she was going to "trash those gross, hideous things" . J.O. (a.k.a. Lucky)