With gold rates at record peaks, apparel collectors are in panic mode.
For months, they’ve been scouring their houses and cracking open their compartments to fetch handmade earrings, family heirlooms and other expensive pieces containing the precious metal that can be melted for money.
“It happens with every gold spike, ” said Jeff Clark, a market analyst and founder of TheGoldAdvisor. web. “If you ’ve got a lot of ancient gold jewelry, it ’s essentially free money. ”
The price of gold hit an all-time high of$ 3,357 per ounce on Thursday and is up about 27 % from the beginning of the year, driven by factors including geopolitical tensions, tariff turmoil and increased demand from central banks.
Silver has long been considered a safe-haven property during times of economic confusion, viewed by buyers as a hedge against inflation and stock market volatility. And, when desire is strong, products made with silver can be profitable for owners to transfer.
“Everyone’s like, ‘If I have some gold necklaces, if my grandparents or my mother or father left me everything, even I can get some cash for it since everything else is down and prices is killing everyone’s purchasing power and use, ’” said Alex Arakeloglu, a sales associate at Capri Jewellery in downtown Los Angeles. “ I hear it all around the Apparel District. ”
The flow of users looking to trade in or sell their metal parts has been a boon for separate craftsmen, who have been grappling with rough wholesale prices for innovative products amid the latest gold rush. Many are also worried that President Trump’s taxes could additionally drive up prices for imported valuable metals and gemstones.
On a recent Monday evening, Rosie Juda arrived at her lifelong jeweler’s second-floor L. A. workshop with plastic bags full of gold jewelry, some of which had been in her family for generations.
Spreading the sparkling pieces on a glass-topped stand between them, Olivia Kazanjian, proprietor of Jewelry by Olivia K, examined each with a loupe: rings set with blue and red gemstones, an placed cigarette case, a thick necklace with big bright beads, sea urchin-shaped clip-on earrings from Tiffany & Co. , a whimsical clown figurine with a wide grin.
“ Well, it turns out you made some really good choices investing in gold, ” Kazanjian said 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 said. “Antique pieces are not worth it — you’ll never, ever see that craftsmanship again. ”
For Juda, 56, 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 said. “Let it go, it ’s just time. ”
Over the next two hours, jeweler and collector pored over nearly 40 pieces, separating them into neat piles. Kazanjian persuaded Juda to keep some of the rarer items as-is, and will redesign a few 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$ 9,500 — a figure she calculated by estimating the grams of pure gold in each piece and multiplying it by the current market 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 45 locations around the country. A manager for the downtown L. A. branch said he was n’t authorized to comment on the business, citing its high-value transactions and carefully 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 security 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 officials said the thieves cut through a room next to the gold merchant and made off with about$ 10 million worth of merchandise.
Despite the current mania, Clark, the gold market analyst, noted that jewelry owners bringing in old pieces “probably won’t get rich off of it. ”
Many will try nonetheless. During a previous spike in gold prices, Clark said, 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 said. “Some morgues will let you do it. ”
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