Precious metal traders in Alabama are seeing an “insane amount” of people seeking to take advantage of record prices in gold and silver.
On Tuesday morning, the price of gold topped $4,000 a troy ounce for the first time, a benchmark in a remarkable rise fueled by economic uncertainty and global unrest.
A year ago, the price of gold was trading at around $2,643 an ounce. Long time traders say they haven’t seen a run on gold like this since the late 1970s.
Silver currently trades at $48.74 an ounce, a gain of more than $16 in the past year.
Greg Stack, who has been buying and selling gold at Alabama Wholesale Diamonds in Trussville for about three decades, said the volume of traffic is comparable to the number of people selling during the Great Recession in 2008.
He said where there were maybe five to six people a day coming in to sell gold a year ago, now it’s 15 to 20 a day. Old or broken jewelry and gold coins are regularly being put up for sale.
Jeuron McMillan, the owner of Big Boys Gold and Silver in Huntsville for the past 13 years, said the children of Baby Boomers are showing up regularly with their parents’ coins and jewelry.
“We’re seeing an insane amount of people selling gold and silver,” McMillan said. “Women who are now in their 70s, 80s and 90s bought a lot of jewelry, and then men of that age bought gold coins. And once they pass on, their kids don’t care about jewelry or coins.”
Several factors are playing into the sudden rise in gold, according to The Wall Street Journal. Economic uncertainty about global trade and rising prices, as well as a weak dollar, persistent inflation and predictions of slowing growth have investors fleeing to precious metals.
“It’s interest rates, turmoil in the Middle East, it’s difficult to pin it on one thing,” Stack said. “There are so many factors that contribute to the price of gold.”
But McMillan said the local sellers have other things in mind. As he pieces through the jewelry they lay on his counter, he hears their stories.
“For a lot of people, the price of most things had doubled in the last four years,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of people having a hard time with making higher mortgage payments, car payments, groceries. A lot of people don’t want to sell old jewelry, but people are forced to sell, and a big part of it is people have to because they need the money.
“It’s something I’ve been seeing for the last two-and-a-half to three years, and it’s continuing to gain steam. Probably 80 to 90 percent of the phone calls I get, or people walking in, are selling.”
Stack said anyone considering selling gold should get someone to check out what they have.
“If you’re not sure if it’s gold, if you don’t know if that ring your grandmother left was costume jewelry or not, get someone to check it out,” he said. “It’s doesn’t take much to add up to substantial money.”
McMillan agreed, saying a dealer can quickly determine if gold is 10K, 14K or 18K.
And if you’ve got the money, he said, it might be a good time to buy. The price continues to soar. Goldman Sachs analysts say the price is likely to hit $4,900 a troy ounce by December 2026.
“The way I see it, it’s almost like real estate,” McMillon said. “Any amount they can start with is a good step.”
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