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Here''s an article from the Chicago Tribune:
It''s time to sell your bling
Record prices for precious metals send many rushing to cash in family jewelry, silver
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Special to the Tribune
Published May 13, 2006
It''s time to dig out Grandma''s bling from the safety deposit box and polish that tarnished silver coffee service packed away in the basement.
With the prices of gold and platinum at 26-year highs, and silver prices at an almost 25-year high, there''s a new kind of gold rush under way, according to Chicago-area jewelry brokers.
In the past month, and in particular this week as the price of gold charged past $700 an ounce, owners of everything from pocket watches to silverware are bombarding jewelry brokers and pawn shops, trying to decide whether sentiment or cold hard cash has a greater value. More often than not, cash wins.
At Hinsdale Fine Jewelry Co. in Oak Brook, owner Bert Wait has bought as much jewelry from customers in the past six weeks as he bought during all of 2005. He expects to double his business this year.
"The last three days, it''s been fast and furious and there''s really a fever," Wait said. "I always tell them I''m buying their jewelry. I''m not buying their memories. They still have those."
A week ago, when gold hit $650 an ounce, area resident Dorothy Sharlin visited her safety deposit box, pulled out jewelry she hadn''t seen in years and sold it. Next week, she''ll make another trip downtown, leaving just a set of pearls in the vault.
"I said this is a good time to unload all the old jewelry I had because my kids don''t want it," Sharlin said. "I''m not wearing it. What am I going to do with it? I said $650 wasn''t anything to sneeze at."
Generally, consumers are likely to receive 40 percent more than if they had sold the same item a year ago.
But don''t expect to make a killing on every piece you own, jewelry brokers say. There''s a difference in quality between 14-karat, 18-karat, 22-karat and 24-karat pure gold. Owners of heavy pocket watches may find that most of the weight is from the timepiece itself, not the gold. And some pieces that may look like gold are actually gold vermeil, which is another metal with a gold overlay.
That isn''t stopping people from trying.
"Anything yellow, people are bringing in," said Tobina Kahn, vice president of House of Kahn Estate Jewelry in Chicago. "The average person is bringing me in between five and 10 items."
The amount of gold in a piece, its age and the uniqueness of the design will help determine the price. If you just bought a gold necklace five years ago from a high-end jewelry store, it makes more sense to keep it because you won''t come close to recouping the cost, given the markup at jewelry stores, brokers advise.
It''s not just jewelry that people want appraised.
More people will use plastic flatware at their backyard parties this summer rather than silverware, joked Ralph Santiago, owner of A-1 Antique Jewelers in Chicago. He has seen a few customers come in with wood boxes filled with silver place settings and leave with empty boxes and a check. A 100-piece set of sterling silver flatware that was worth $400 to $800 a year ago is now worth $1,000 to $2,000.
"Some people are amazed that they''re getting the high values they''re getting," he said. "It just seems like people have a price in mind and it''s much easier to meet that price right now."
What happens to that gold and silver varies, depending on the company that buys it and the uniqueness of the merchandise. Some pieces are resold to estate jewelry dealers or private collectors here and in Europe; other goods are sent to a metal refiner and melted down.
In the current market, "you tend to lean more toward scrapping," said Fran Bishop, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association in Roanoke, Texas. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and scrapping is a little more pretty right now."
One Chicago-area precious metal refiner is currently recycling $1.5 million to $1.8 million of fine gold a week, a 60 percent spike from its normal volume. "The volumes are like we haven''t seen since the 1979-1980 boom and we expect this could go on for another year or two," said the refiner, who asked not to have his name, company or location identified because of fears that he or his business would be burglarized.
The flip side of gold''s run-up is its effect on consumers looking to buy jewelry, particularly with wedding season approaching. Unlike the direct link between crude oil prices and the price at the pump, increasing raw material costs in the jewelry business generally don''t affect the price of merchandise already in store display cases.
"If consumers are going to feel a direct effect, it wouldn''t be for a few months, when [retailers] restock their shelves," said Amanda Gizzi, a spokeswoman for Jewelers of America, a non-profit trade association in New York City.
Sterling Jewelers, the Akron, Ohio-based parent of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, says it''s been able to weather the gold commodity cost increases so far. Now it''s monitoring the situation. "We will have to consider some further adjustments to our retail prices of gold jewelry to take into account the current commodity cost of gold," spokesman David Bouffard said in a statement.
But that''s not the case if you are in the market for custom-designed jewelry pieces.
Three months ago, Evanston jewelry designer Peggy Robinson boosted the price of her pieces, most of which are made of 14-karat gold, by 20 percent to cover her increased costs. It''s no longer enough.
"It''s a mess, isn''t it?" she said. "I''m eating it. If it keeps going up, I''ll be due for another correction."
It''s time to sell your bling
Record prices for precious metals send many rushing to cash in family jewelry, silver
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Special to the Tribune
Published May 13, 2006
It''s time to dig out Grandma''s bling from the safety deposit box and polish that tarnished silver coffee service packed away in the basement.
With the prices of gold and platinum at 26-year highs, and silver prices at an almost 25-year high, there''s a new kind of gold rush under way, according to Chicago-area jewelry brokers.
In the past month, and in particular this week as the price of gold charged past $700 an ounce, owners of everything from pocket watches to silverware are bombarding jewelry brokers and pawn shops, trying to decide whether sentiment or cold hard cash has a greater value. More often than not, cash wins.
At Hinsdale Fine Jewelry Co. in Oak Brook, owner Bert Wait has bought as much jewelry from customers in the past six weeks as he bought during all of 2005. He expects to double his business this year.
"The last three days, it''s been fast and furious and there''s really a fever," Wait said. "I always tell them I''m buying their jewelry. I''m not buying their memories. They still have those."
A week ago, when gold hit $650 an ounce, area resident Dorothy Sharlin visited her safety deposit box, pulled out jewelry she hadn''t seen in years and sold it. Next week, she''ll make another trip downtown, leaving just a set of pearls in the vault.
"I said this is a good time to unload all the old jewelry I had because my kids don''t want it," Sharlin said. "I''m not wearing it. What am I going to do with it? I said $650 wasn''t anything to sneeze at."
Generally, consumers are likely to receive 40 percent more than if they had sold the same item a year ago.
But don''t expect to make a killing on every piece you own, jewelry brokers say. There''s a difference in quality between 14-karat, 18-karat, 22-karat and 24-karat pure gold. Owners of heavy pocket watches may find that most of the weight is from the timepiece itself, not the gold. And some pieces that may look like gold are actually gold vermeil, which is another metal with a gold overlay.
That isn''t stopping people from trying.
"Anything yellow, people are bringing in," said Tobina Kahn, vice president of House of Kahn Estate Jewelry in Chicago. "The average person is bringing me in between five and 10 items."
The amount of gold in a piece, its age and the uniqueness of the design will help determine the price. If you just bought a gold necklace five years ago from a high-end jewelry store, it makes more sense to keep it because you won''t come close to recouping the cost, given the markup at jewelry stores, brokers advise.
It''s not just jewelry that people want appraised.
More people will use plastic flatware at their backyard parties this summer rather than silverware, joked Ralph Santiago, owner of A-1 Antique Jewelers in Chicago. He has seen a few customers come in with wood boxes filled with silver place settings and leave with empty boxes and a check. A 100-piece set of sterling silver flatware that was worth $400 to $800 a year ago is now worth $1,000 to $2,000.
"Some people are amazed that they''re getting the high values they''re getting," he said. "It just seems like people have a price in mind and it''s much easier to meet that price right now."
What happens to that gold and silver varies, depending on the company that buys it and the uniqueness of the merchandise. Some pieces are resold to estate jewelry dealers or private collectors here and in Europe; other goods are sent to a metal refiner and melted down.
In the current market, "you tend to lean more toward scrapping," said Fran Bishop, president of the National Pawnbrokers Association in Roanoke, Texas. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and scrapping is a little more pretty right now."
One Chicago-area precious metal refiner is currently recycling $1.5 million to $1.8 million of fine gold a week, a 60 percent spike from its normal volume. "The volumes are like we haven''t seen since the 1979-1980 boom and we expect this could go on for another year or two," said the refiner, who asked not to have his name, company or location identified because of fears that he or his business would be burglarized.
The flip side of gold''s run-up is its effect on consumers looking to buy jewelry, particularly with wedding season approaching. Unlike the direct link between crude oil prices and the price at the pump, increasing raw material costs in the jewelry business generally don''t affect the price of merchandise already in store display cases.
"If consumers are going to feel a direct effect, it wouldn''t be for a few months, when [retailers] restock their shelves," said Amanda Gizzi, a spokeswoman for Jewelers of America, a non-profit trade association in New York City.
Sterling Jewelers, the Akron, Ohio-based parent of Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, says it''s been able to weather the gold commodity cost increases so far. Now it''s monitoring the situation. "We will have to consider some further adjustments to our retail prices of gold jewelry to take into account the current commodity cost of gold," spokesman David Bouffard said in a statement.
But that''s not the case if you are in the market for custom-designed jewelry pieces.
Three months ago, Evanston jewelry designer Peggy Robinson boosted the price of her pieces, most of which are made of 14-karat gold, by 20 percent to cover her increased costs. It''s no longer enough.
"It''s a mess, isn''t it?" she said. "I''m eating it. If it keeps going up, I''ll be due for another correction."
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