Rising gold prices lead to hunt for old jewelry
Press of Atlantic City, NJÂ
By AMY KUPERINSKY Staff Writer, 609-272-7251
Published: Sunday, March 02, 2008
“We buy gold.” So reads the twin signs that greet customers as they approach Frank’s Jewelers at the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township. And what a time to sell it, with the value of gold skyrocketing this year. The increase has sent people to their jewelry boxes to ferret out single earrings and little-worn novelties, along with the bigger stuff: pieces whose sentimental value just isn’t enough to trump their actual value.
One man took his chain to be appraised.
“Weigh it with the box,” he said, handing the small green square to Frank Devlin, owner of the mall jewelry counter.
A woman approached soon after with a piece of what she thought was gold jewelry. “Sorry, gold-plated,” said Devlin, who accepts only gold, platinum or silver.
With 25 years in the business, Devlin has seen ups and downs in the value of gold, and his customers’ pocketbooks.
“It’s at an all-time high right now,” he said. Gold, last year worth $600 per ounce, is now valued at $960 per ounce, Devlin said. Still, he expected this year’s high to last just a few more weeks.
Caleb DeSoto, owner of DeSoto Jewelers in Vineland, didn’t project the value of gold to deflate very soon, and said it would reach a minimum of $1,000 per ounce. If he knew more than that, he said, he’d probably be on a yacht.
“People are getting what they paid for it,” DeSoto said. “Probably once in their lifetime they’re going to see that, or twice.”
David Bruno, who co-owns the custom jewelry shop David Charles Limited of Hammonton with his wife, Jackie, sent out 6,000 postcards to his customers telling them that gold has reached a momentous high. He plans to put up billboards saying the same.
“This is the oddest thing I’ve ever seen,” Bruno said. “The entire industry has changed dramatically.”
He said that buying gold, once 1 percent of his business, has become 90 percent. Since the value of pure gold went from $350 per ounce to more than $900 per ounce in the past five years, a gold chain purchased five years ago for $250 would be $700 today, he said.
“I’ve had people lined up just waiting to sell their gold some days,” Bruno said. “It’s crazy.”
DeSoto said the majority of his customers seeking to sell gold are older and have accumulated different pieces over a longer period of time – about 60 years ago or more.
“The biggest increase is in stray items,” said William Scott, gemologist and owner of Artisan’s Alcove Jewelers in Cape May. Stray items are pieces of jewelry that aren’t being worn, broken chains and single earrings collecting dust in jewelry boxes and on dressing tables. Those items often include dated jewelry.
“Across the country, you’re seeing more things that are out of style, maybe borderline 1970s, that just gets recycled now,” Scott said. “It’s certainly a very good time to sell. Metals are up across the board.”
“This hasn’t happened since the late ’70s , early ’80s,” said Rick Salesky, in the jewelry business for 31 years and owner of Treasure Chest Jewelry, a jewelry retail outlet and precious metal exchange in Ocean City. Gold hit $850 per ounce then, he said.
Still, it’s not just stray items that come out for appraisal.
“There’s a lot of sentiment, and there’s also a lot of inheritance,” DeSoto said. “But when people need money, that’s kind of out the window.”
Jewelers attributed the willingness of many to willingly part with their gold to tough times and a weakening economy.
“The casinos are down, for the first time ever,” Devlin said. “Obviously, that impacts our local economy. If you talk to most people, we consider ourselves in a recession.”
“It’s not really that the metals are going up, it’s more that the value of the dollar is weaker,” Salesky said. “People are hurting, so they’re reaching into their other assets. Now, people can have a treasure hunt in their own home.”
“The fanciest jewelry stores, even stores on the boardwalk, are buying precious metals,” he said, with jewelers putting up signs about buying gold that previously might have been considered tacky or likely to convey the wrong image.
Yesterday, Salesky’s store fielded a request from one woman to appraise a relative’s gold tooth. He said a single filling of 16-karat gold could fetch anywhere from $40 to $100.
“Sometimes they literally break down and cry,” he said of another woman who was surprised to net $2,000 from her found gold.
At Bruno’s counter, a woman in her 80s also was left crying after she discovered that the jewelry she brought in for appraisal – including broken chains and a dented wedding band – was worth $1,500. After that, she brought her sister back to the store, her sister brought a friend, and that snowballed into 10 separate sales.
“She got rid of everything, and she was just thrilled,” said Bruno. “She was so happy because she needed the money.”
To e-mail Amy Kuperinsky at The Press:
AKuperinsky@pressofac.com
TIPS FOR SELLING GOLD
-Check your jewelry box for scarcely worn items and things you don’t want. They can be worth more than you might think.
– It may be stamped, ’14-karat,’ but that doesn’t mean it’s gold. Some necklaces can have catches stamped as such, but the number alone means little.
– For an appraisal, if possible, go to someone you know and trust.
– Get an appraisal at a jeweler’s, not a jewelry store. The difference is that there’s more likely to be someone who knows how to properly evaluate gold at an actual jeweler’s.
– If gold is worth $930 per ounce, you aren’t going to be paid $930 for every ounce of gold you have. The ounce quote is for pure gold only – 14-karat gold is composed of just 58.5 percent gold. The lower the karat, the less the gold content.
– Don’t let anyone steal your diamonds from gold pieces. Single gold stud earrings might be worth $5 or $10, yet diamonds in the earrings can be saved. Some are too small, and the labor to remove them might exceed their value, but engagement ring diamonds, for example, should be given a value separate from the gold.
– Gold pieces with less color, or fewer stones, are worth more. A jeweler must break the stones out before the item goes to the refinery.
Source: David Bruno, owner, David Charles Limited of Hammonton
