People are melting their old jewelry for cash as gold prices soar

With gold prices at record highs jewelry collectors are in meltdown mode For weeks they ve been scouring their homes and cracking open their safes to retrieve vintage necklaces family heirlooms and other expensive pieces containing the precious metal that can be melted for cash It happens with every gold spike explained Jeff Clark a realm analyst and founder of TheGoldAdvisor com If you ve got a lot of old gold jewelry it s basically free money The price of gold hit an all-time high of per ounce on Thursday and is up about from the beginning of the year driven by factors including geopolitical tensions tariff turmoil and increased demand from central banks Gold has long been considered a safe-haven asset during times of economic uncertainty viewed by investors as a hedge against inflation and stock industry volatility And when demand is strong items made with gold can be lucrative for owners to offload Everyone s like If I have several gold jewelry if my grandparents or my mother or father left me something maybe I can get particular money for it since everything else is down and inflation is killing everyone s purchasing power and consumption mentioned Alex Arakeloglu a sales associate at Capri Jewelry in downtown Los Angeles I hear it all around the Jewelry District The influx of customers looking to business in or sell their gold pieces has been a boon for independent jewelers who have been grappling with steep wholesale prices for new items amid the latest gold rush A multitude of are also worried that President Trump s tariffs could further drive up costs for imported precious metals and diamonds On a up-to-date Monday afternoon Rosie Juda arrived at her longtime jeweler s second-floor L A studio with plastic bags full of gold jewelry particular of which had been in her family for generations Spreading the glimmering pieces on a glass-topped table between them Olivia Kazanjian owner of Jewelry by Olivia K examined each with a loupe rings set with blue and red gemstones an inscribed cigarette scenario a chunky necklace with large shiny beads sea urchin-shaped clip-on earrings from Tiffany Co a whimsical clown figurine with a wide grin Well it turns out you made specific really good choices investing in gold Kazanjian commented as she placed the items one by one on a scale For pieces of unknown purity she performed a quick scratch test using an acid kit to help determine the metal s karat composition Lately Kazanjian has seen a revolving door of clients eager to melt their jewelry collections But she s urging caution Sometimes it s very clear when you get jewelry in that s like Nope This is not to be melted you ve got to hold onto this she reported Antique pieces are not worth it you ll never ever see that craftsmanship again For Juda it s about taking advantage while gold is a hot commodity The timing is especially fortuitous with two daughters in college and hefty tuitions to pay Priorities in your life change Do I want all this stuff sitting in the safety deposit box the retired set decorator disclosed Let it go it s just time Over the next two hours jeweler and collector pored over nearly pieces separating them into neat piles Kazanjian persuaded Juda to keep certain of the rarer items as-is and will redesign a limited others to give them a fresh look The largest was the melt pile a mound of discarded jewelry for which Kazanjian offered to pay Juda a figure she calculated by estimating the grams of pure gold in each piece and multiplying it by the current area price of the metal before subtracting melting and processing fees She ll write Juda a check at the end of the session and take the items to a refinery in the Jewelry District There are dozens of businesses downtown that will melt gold One of the largest precious metal refiners is Elemetal which operates more than locations around the country A manager for the downtown L A branch declared he wasn t authorized to comment on the business citing its high-value transactions and scrupulously vetted clients On its website Elemetal says its specialized facilities melt gold sources such as scrap jewelry and impaired bullion to separate impurities and obtain refined gold It works with jewelers miners pawnbrokers and dealers to convert materials into marketable high-purity gold products while ensuring transparency and competitive settlements As the price of gold has surged businesses in the Jewelry District have been taking extra measure precautions This week millions of dollars in gold and jewels were stolen from a downtown L A jeweler s two safes after burglars tunneled into the shop through multiple reinforced walls The FBI is working with Los Angeles police to investigate the heist at Love Jewels where administrators stated the thieves cut through a room next to the gold merchant and made off with about million worth of merchandise Despite the current mania Clark the gold domain analyst noted that jewelry owners bringing in old pieces likely won t get rich off of it Several will try nonetheless During a previous spike in gold prices Clark mentioned people were asking morticians for permission to pull gold teeth from the mouths of dead family members You can sell anything that has gold in it he announced Several morgues will let you do it