If you’re on the hunt for platinum scrap, you could sweep the floors at a jewelry factory, pull up old drain pipes and floorboards you find there, or tweezer out bits of old platinum screens and sponge from plating tanks and drains.
That’s hard work. There are much easier places to find platinum . . .
Jewelry, Especially Rings
Let’s start with a place where it is easiest to find platinum – old rings. Heck, platinum wedding rings are often stamped “pt” on the inside, which eliminates any uncertainty about what you have found.
Old Platinum Lab Equipment
Lab crucibles, triangular metal stands, tweezers and forceps are often made of pure platinum. Why? Because it is resistant to heat and inert, meaning that it doesn’t leach other chemicals into substances that are being tested. And remember that old platinum testing equipment is still pure platinum, even if has become discolored.