Only Jewelry

Many cash in on a golden opportunity Gainesville Sun

21.12.09

After seven years of pawning lost wares, they are pocketing a little more since gold prices hit record highs earlier this month.

That helps the Gainesville couple pay bills since Jerrie, 38, broke his wrist in a bicycle accident and would have a hard time working if he could find a job.

"You've got to get anything you can to get money by whatever means," said Lynn, 29. "If it's what people have lost, and it has value to it, that's the only way you can make money these days."

They were disappointed Thursday to find that a broken bracelet they brought to Gold Rush Pawn on Southwest 20th Avenue was not real gold.

Since record gold prices have been in the news so often, shop owner Jim Mulligan has seen a lot more customers selling gold items.

The sellers are not just those in low-income brackets anymore, store owners said. A lot more middle- and higher-income customers are taking advantage of prices that have nearly tripled in three years.

"They're smart to cash in on this crazy gold rush going on," said Sal Fluriach, owner of Oaks Pawn & Jewelry across from The Oaks Mall.

Nancy Buchner has opened eight gold-buying storefronts called Gold Pros in Florida malls this year, including The Oaks Mall in August, to hedge against her slow luxury auction business.

"The majority of our people are not necessarily in dire need," she said of Gold Pros' customers. "They generally go right back and spend that money in the mall and on consumer goods rather than mortgages and car payments."

Customers are bringing in a lot of out-of-style jewelry such as the big clunky pieces of the 1980s, as well as broken chains and herringbone necklaces, wedding bands, class rings, bracelets, watches, dental work, even gold nuggets, gold dust and bullion coins.

Mulligan said 90 percent of his pawn shop's business is in gold, the vast majority of which he sells to a reseller who then sells to a refinery.

For larger sales, he offers 80 percent of that day's gold price. After holding items for the 30 days mandated by the state for pawned items, he gets 95 percent of the current value from a reseller.

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