With gold prices hitting record highs, jewelry collectors find themselves in a frenzy.
For weeks, they have been rummaging through their homes and opening their safes to retrieve vintage necklaces, family heirlooms, and other costly pieces that can be melted down for cash.
“It happens with every gold spike,” said Jeff Clark, a market 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 reached an all-time high of $3,357 per ounce on Thursday, marking an increase of approximately 27% since the start of the year.
This surge in price has been driven by multiple factors, including geopolitical tensions, tariff turmoil, and an uptick in demand from central banks.
Gold has historically been viewed as a safe-haven asset during periods of economic uncertainty, serving as a hedge against inflation and stock market volatility.
When demand for gold is strong, items crafted from the precious metal become lucrative for owners looking to sell.
“Everyone’s like, ‘If I have some gold jewelry, if my grandparents or my mother or father left me something, maybe I can get some money for it since everything else is down and inflation is killing everyone’s purchasing power and consumption,’” remarked Alex Arakeloglu, a sales associate at Capri Jewelry in downtown Los Angeles.
“I hear it all around the Jewelry District.”
The surge in customers looking to trade in or sell their gold pieces has provided a financial boost for independent jewelers, who have been grappling with steep wholesale prices for new items during this new gold rush.
However, many jewelers express concern that President Trump’s tariffs could further exacerbate the costs for imported precious metals and diamonds.
On a recent Monday afternoon, Rosie Juda stepped into her longtime jeweler’s second-floor L.A. studio bearing plastic bags filled with gold jewelry, some of which had been passed down in her family for generations.
As she laid out the sparkling pieces on a glass-topped table, Olivia Kazanjian, owner of Jewelry by Olivia K, meticulously examined each item with a loupe.
Among the jewelry were rings adorned with blue and red gemstones, an inscribed cigarette case, a chunky necklace featuring large shiny beads, sea urchin-shaped clip-on earrings from Tiffany & Co., and a whimsical clown figurine sporting a wide grin.
“Well, it turns out you made some really good choices investing in gold,” commented Kazanjian as she weighed each item individually.
For pieces whose purity was uncertain, she conducted a quick scratch test using an acid kit to ascertain the metal’s karat composition.
Recently, Kazanjian has noticed “a revolving door” of clients eager to melt their jewelry collections.
Yet, she is urging her customers to proceed with 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, the decision to sell stems from a desire to capitalize on gold being a hot commodity.
The timing is particularly fortuitous given that both of her daughters are in college and facing hefty tuition fees.
“Priorities in your life change.
Do I want all this stuff sitting in the safety deposit box?” questioned the retired set decorator.
“Let it go, it’s just time.”
Over the course of two hours, Kazanjian and Juda examined nearly 40 pieces of jewelry, organizing them into neat piles.
Kazanjian persuaded Juda to retain some of the rarer items as-is and offered to redesign a few others for a fresh look.
The largest collection ended up in the melt pile, a mound of discarded jewelry for which Kazanjian offered to pay Juda $9,500.
That figure was calculated based on the estimated grams of pure gold in each piece, multiplied by the market price of the metal, minus melting and processing fees.
At the session’s conclusion, she would provide Juda with a check and take the melted items to a refinery in the Jewelry District.
Numerous businesses in this area specialize in melting gold, one of the largest being Elemetal, which operates more than 45 locations nationwide.
A manager at the downtown L.A. branch mentioned he wasn’t authorized to discuss the business due to the high-value transactions and carefully vetted clientele.
According to its website, Elemetal’s specialized facilities melt gold sourced from scrap jewelry and impaired bullion to isolate impurities and yield refined gold.
It collaborates with jewelers, miners, pawnbrokers, and dealers to convert materials into high-purity gold products while ensuring transparency and competitive settlements.
As gold prices continue to rise, businesses in the Jewelry District have implemented extra security measures.
Recently, millions of dollars’ worth of gold and jewels were stolen from a downtown L.A. jeweler’s safes after burglars tunneled through multiple reinforced walls.
The FBI is teaming up with Los Angeles police to investigate the heist at Love Jewels, where officials reported that the thieves cut through a room adjacent to the gold merchant and made off with around $10 million in merchandise.
Despite the current gold rush, Clark, the market analyst, cautioned that jewelry owners looking to cash in on old pieces likely “won’t get rich off of it.”
Nonetheless, some people remain hopeful.
During a prior spike in gold prices, Clark recounted how individuals were even asking morticians for permission to extract gold teeth from deceased family members.
“You can sell anything that has gold in it,” he said.
“Some morgues will let you do it.”
image source from：https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-04-18/gold-prices-jewelry-district-melting-tariffs
