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Hi all,

I'm wondering if these older, larger transistors contain anything worth saving. I searched and searched part numbers and descriptions - I'm fairly certain they're transistors (they came out of older radios), but I've only successfully searched one part number out, which listed it at a transistor. They were all mounted on large aluminum sinks.

Unlike what I typically call to mind as transistors, these have many legs and multiple visible bonding wires. If I recall correctly, they all came from Sony devices.

I've included some USB microscope pictures that appear to confirm what they naked eye seems to show - that there is some precious metal content in these. I haven't done an acid test to verify any of the metals present, and to be honest, I suspect the gold color might be due to an overlay of materials or some other trick of the eye.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Am I looking at gold plate or braising or something less? I typically grab transistors (the tripod-legged, copper-backed ones) off low-grade boards, but these stand out.

I'll post one good example, but I've got a coffee can full of this type of component of various sizes. All show similar teensy amounts gold-appearing material when the plastic covers are knocked off. My main question is, are they worth more than the #2 copper bin I plan to throw them in - or should I send them to Boardsort as a grade of some kind of board?

I apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge here.

If you post model numbers, part numbers or the like there’s a 90%+ chance I can track it down in a few days or so. I have a massive parts database.

Depending on the age it’s not all that unlikely to find gold.

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