As the economy drops, the price of gold skyrockets leaving some people sifting through their jewelry boxes and selling their old gold. For some, it has become a way to supplement income.
As the economy continues to spiral downward, gold has become a commodity worth something extra. People and jewelry retailers alike are flocking to sell their outdated, unwanted and unsold gold jewelry pieces.
In an article found on
boston.com, Russell Smith of Sheldon Jewelers cites several factors behind the gold boom; the increase in gas and grocery prices, yellow gold, which was once a high fashion rage nearly 30 years ago, is now simply outdated, and the price of gold being at an all-time high.
Smith says not many fashion items can be resold, but gold has a resale value. "Women buy shoes all the time, can they resell them? No. Gold, you can always resell it. You can even sell your teeth. I've bought teeth before."
He says most of the customers selling are doing so because of the current state of the economy. "Some people are taking this money and paying off the heating bill," he said. "But for the most part, people say they are taking this money and enjoying it - they're going to Foxwoods, they're going on vacations."
Steward Medoff from Hudson Pawn says that the number of jewelry and antique business he buys from has tripled every year for the past few years and jewelry stores who didn't used to buy used gold before are having to do so now. "For some of them, if they're not buying gold, they're going out of business, because no one is buying jewelry these days," He said that some jewelers are even selling their unsold stock of yellow gold jewelry pieces.
The price of gold, at the beginning of this week, was around $900 an ounce, nearly three times the value than just three years ago when it was $350 an ounce.
In an article found on
Yahoo Finance, Michael Gusky of Goldfellow.com says the heavy gold chains and bracelets that were hugely fashionable in the 70's make the perfect pieces to sell for the gold's weight. They are so out of fashion that there is very little resale value, but the gold is perfect for melting down. 'Gusky says he recently paid $1,575 for a gold bracelet a customer bought 30 years ago for $1,000 during a visit to the Caribbean. The customer was "absolutely stunned," Gusky says.'
The Yahoo article agrees with Smith and states that often is the case when the economy falls, that the price of gold tends to rise.
