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Bright outlook for local gold sales
With gold reaching record prices, people are turning to their jewelry boxes and looking for hidden treasures. Many local and national buyers are offering cash for unwanted gold. Tozi Rubin of Newbury Park sold a gold chain, the wedding band from her first marriage and an 18-karat ring she’d bought in Europe years ago that she no longer wore. “My husband said, ‘Remember the gold chain you bought me before you knew I didn’t wear gold chains?’” Rubin said. She sold the jewelry to Jay Rosenberg, who buys and sells gold through his business, Jay’s Gold Parties. “When the dollar is weak against foreign currencies, gold starts to rise,” Rosenberg said. “Everything is just so out of whack. There’s absolutely no value to our currency.” At “gold parties” held in private homes, the Oak Park resident meets with attendees individually while the rest of the partygoers socialize. After determining an item’s purity and weight, Rosenberg pays cash based on the spot price, the market price of gold on that day. He takes his purchases to a downtown Los Angeles company, where the gold is refined, melted into a gold bar and sold. The current economy has caused gold prices to escalate from normal levels of about $350 per ounce, Rosenberg said. The highest price levels had been about $850 per ounce in 1982, he said, but for the past six weeks the prices have reached more than $1,000 per ounce. “These are unprecedented highs. It’s crazy,” Rosenberg said. “Rest assured this is a wave. It can’t last like this forever.” Rosenberg has analyzed broken, mismatched and mangled chains, earrings, bangles, wristwatches, pendants, bracelets and rings. “I see lots of rings, including the old class rings that people have,” Rosenberg said. “All this stuff that was passed down that just sits. They say, ‘What am I going to do with it? I don’t want to wear it. I kind of feel bad, but I need the money.’” Several tests help Rosenberg determine an item’s value. A magnet is the first tool used. Precious metals like gold, platinum and silver do not magnetize. A powerful magnifying glass will reveal the 14K, 18K or 750 markings of actual gold. Another test involves acid and its effect on the item. Clients earn at least two-thirds of the value of their gold based on that day’s spot price and the item’s purity. A piece that is 24K is 100 percent pure; 18K is 75 percent pure and may be marked 750; 14K is 58.5 percent pure and marked 585; and 10K is 41.7 percent pure and marked 417. The party host earns 10 percent of whatever Rosenberg’s total payout is to guests, as well as $30 for refreshments. Rosenberg removes gems and returns them to the owner. “For me they have no value. Nobody’s buying stones because people are not buying jewelry,” Rosenberg said. Some parties are held as fundraisers; others are combined with another vendor selling merchandise or services. “One party was a brunch where people sold their gold to me, then took their money and bought silver jewelry from a line called Silpada. Another party is going to be a gold/Botox party,” Rosenberg said. Rosenberg owned a home remodeling business in Chicago for 20 years. Seeking change, he moved to California in 2001 and worked for a Sherman Oaks mortgage company. When the recession forced the firm to close, Rosenberg got into the gold business. He often visits garage sales in search of gold, which is how he met Rubin, who held a sale at her home in August. Rubin sold several pieces of jewelry to Rosenberg, then decided to host a gold party. Two weeks earlier she had received a layoff notice at work. Rubin said the money she and her friends made from selling their jewelry to Rosenberg helped them pay bills. “One friend had to do repairs on her roof, so this really helped her,” Rubin said. |
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